Those are both hits, yes.

@PrinceNorthLæraðr (*dice)

@Sciborg Exactly which damages get doubled?

I can double the damage from Gloom Stalker attack and thus the additional d8, right?

Was the first hit a crit? double the damage of the first hit in that case.

Okay, that was my regular attack. Darn

Okay

(rolling)

"If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action." your crit came on the first hit so it wouldn't include

d8=4+5=9*2=18 for regular attack. Rolling for gloomstalker

(5e crit = roll double the number of dice..?

(houserule: just double it)

(okay thanks, I find that easier :)

5+5=10 for Gloom Stalker Weapon attack

5 d8 for extra damage

5 from d6 hunter's mark

Let me do the math here

18+10+5+5=38?

whistles

(whistles back That's got to do some heavy damage on the lad)

(Too bad it's only turn 1 ;-;)

wait one moment here....

checking actions

(Did I do something wrong? ;-;)

no you're good, i'm just checking a Thing

Oh, I still have 10 feet of movement. I forgot. Damn Gloom Stalker is so good turn 1!

okay, all good. i had to check that the gloomstalker thing didn't use up your bonus action

it does not by RAW, so it's fine

Thought so :P

You strike the dragonborn hard twice in quick succession. Your hits rip open its plate armor slightly, and you see that underneath its scales are flaking off and its skin is rotting in places. The dragonborn's toothy jaw clacks again. "ᴍᴇᴀᴛ ꜰɪɢʜᴛꜱ ʙᴀᴄᴋ," it rasps.

(ah, undead Dragonborn. Interesting)

It is now their turn, and it's going for you since you're in melee range.

Wait hold on

I didn't use my free action yet

do you do something?

(how does he know about that...?)

(Is this metagaming? Hm)

(I presume Astrid told him?)

(when?)

(idk?)

(I shall retract statement if this was metagaming -_-; sorry)

(you could just say it's an undead, and Astrid will figure out Channel Divinity by themself)

(okay)

does a 13 and a 15 hit you, Lae?

Lae speaks in Sylvan to Ink and Astrid. "Undead Dragonborn, gah!)

15 barely hits, 13 misses

The dragonborn bares its fangs and strikes at you with its huge battleaxe, for 11 slashing damage and 4 necrotic damage.

Huh??

Okay, so Lae is down to 11 health. Welp

(what the heck is this undead??? I'm genuinely worried)

You also see a flash of light in the trees, followed by an absolutely frightening shrieking sound.

(would Lae like 16AC temporarily)

(yes)

(You need to be less surprised when an equal opponent does less than half the amount of damage to you that you did to it ;p

(well I'm almost half-dead)

From the trees, a second dragonborn in armor emerges, with a huge, shadowy creature behind her.

(I'll have to burn that turn's Action, but if you get somewhere I can touch you then Barkskin is a Concentration spell to give you 16AC, even without armor)

"𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕤, 𝕂𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕤," she calls.

@bobble (it's fine, you can do something else with your action. Lae hopefully will be okay)

It is now Astrid's turn.

You hear a faint ruckus from inside the temple behind you - presumably some of the acolytes of Pan are becoming aware of the battle.

Lae looks up. "What the hell is that thing...."

Astrid fumbles out their little religious book (bonus action) and moves so that undead Dragonborn can seem them and they can see undead Dragonborn (move action) - also would like to not move that much, if possible.

(spell save DC is 13)

(Wisdom saving roll)

(bwahahaha)

(can you tell that Astrid wants them to leave)

(yes)

shit, they rolled a 19+0 on the Wis

i was kinda hoping they would fail

drat

can Inspiration force them to re-roll?

ooh

(all of the undead? or does it only choose one target?)

not usually, but because Rule of Awesome i will allow it.

so that's my one inspiration point

BWAHAHAHA how is a nat 2 looking

@Graylocke (I believe it's all undead within the reason)

Bwahahaha

all undead, but they're only one

HAHA INSPIRATION

(I thought the shadow might count ;p

Ooh, Lae can use his reaction to attack

They are the only undead in the area, so it only affects them - shadow thing is classified as an Elemental.

ah okay

(Will use reaction to make opportunity attack if undead tries to run)

> A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can't take Reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to Escape from an Effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.

(oh, next turn)

Ah, nice. So on its next turn it will be forced to Dash

(if it survives that long. Or if I'm alive for that long)

The dragonborn cringes away from the holy powers of Pan. "𝕄𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕥𝕤!" it snarls.

Unless you have actions the turn order shall now move to Ink

(now I am torn between options :P

(please druid please help us)

The ruckus in the temple gets louder, and you hear frantic running around.

The acolytes of Pan seem to be doing something, but you're not sure what.

(how can it move towards Ink? It can't move within 30ft of me)

(How far to the shadow or the other Dragonborn? And I think borg meant "the turn will pass to Ink"

The other dragonborn just came from the trees about 40 feet from the edge of the spikes, so quite a distance from where you all are.

(within 90'?

Plausibly, yeah

(also note that I would have had to be within 30ft of the undead to Turn them, so if that means I need to be in a different place you can move me)

Ink bellows from the shadows, "Yᴏᴜ ʜᴇᴀʀᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴇʀɪᴄ: Hᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Wɪʟᴅs ʀᴜʟᴇs ʜᴇʀᴇ. Bᴇɢᴏɴᴇ ʜᴀʟғ-ʙʀᴇᴇᴅ ᴛʀᴀɪᴛᴏʀs!"

(damn, nice words)

The other dragonborn shouts back. "𝕎𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕠 𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕝 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕞 𝕤𝕠 𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕡𝕦𝕥 𝕡𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕤 𝕠𝕟 𝕞𝕪 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣, 𝕤𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕚𝕥!"

Ink steps from the shadows and his purple eye pulses. (Cast Hex on the far Dragonborn, target Dexterity)

Dex save?

what does Hex do?

No save, they have penalty to dex actions and take more damage from my spells...

ah, okay

And the curse is immediately followed by a pulse of multi-coloured lightning arcing straight from his outstretched burn-coloured arm. (Eldritch Blast, same target)

Awesome, roll it

13 + 5 = 18 to hit?

That's a hit, yup

9 + 3 force damage plus 4 necrotic damage. = 16

(fixed)

(ahh, okay)

(can we tell what armor the other Dragonborn is wearing)

The crackling lightning strikes her, and she stumbles backwards in obvious pain.

"Wɪᴛʜᴇʀ, ᴍᴏʀᴛᴀʟ."

"𝕐𝕠𝕦'𝕧𝕖 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕖, 𝕗𝕦𝕫𝕫𝕓𝕒𝕝𝕝."

(Ink is angry.)

It is now back to Lae.

? Wait is the other dragonborn not taking an action....?

(I think she summoned her pet elemental)

Her action was summoning the shadow creature.

(ohhh, okay)

Lae bares his teeth, striking with his rapier once again

13+5=18? Does that hit?

(why not let undead-guy leave?)

(they can't do anything)

Hit.

@bobble (no, they can try running, and then I can use my opportunity attack)

Ugh 3+5=8, let me roll d6=5 13 damage

When you strike this time, the dragonborn's undead skin tears again more forcefully, and you see dark magic starting to drip out like blood. The dragonborn hisses. "𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕕𝕚𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕥."

...damn

Lae shakes his head in confusion. "What kind of sorcery is this?"

Can I use my bonus action to roll nature on what creature this is?

Sure

20! I swear I'm not making this rolls up -_-;

(I'm literally waiting for that inevitable 1 I always end up with)

Sometimes, when a beloved creature dies and a person who was close to them doesn't wish for them to pass on, they will turn to necromancy. They will try to bring the person's soul back and bind it back into the person's dead flesh, so that they will retain their former personality and memories.

It works sometimes. But sometimes it fails. Sometimes, instead of that soul, something else is brought back.

This is the body of the dragonborn, but inside it is something else.

(... someone missed their brother and wasn't too worried about it being good or natural or... mmm this... -> guess

"ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕥𝕠 𝕞𝕖, 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘," the other dragonborn calls. "𝕃𝕖𝕥 𝕞𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕝 𝕪𝕠𝕦. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕤𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕡𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦."

Lae turns to the other dragonborn. His face suddenly turns sad. "Friend... this isn't who you think it is. This isn't who you used to love or care for."

(Let me know when I roll for opportunity attack)

The other dragonborn's face contorts for a moment, then she retains her composure. "𝕃𝕚𝕒𝕣."

Lae shrugs. "I have no idea what you said, but... I feel your pain."

The undead dragonborn starts to use its action to Dash away, since it can't stand being near Astrid.

(<3 I love that we try to correct the bad guys one at a time. :)

Use my reaction

10+5=15 I assume that misses?

That is indeed a miss. You try to strike as it flees, but it bounces off its armor.

Lae focuses on the other dragonborn. "His soul is at rest, let his body also be at peace too."

(Necro's turn? Or the best cleric's turn? :)

She switches to Common abruptly, speaking in a way that suggests it is her second language. "My brother is as alive as ever, whelp."

Lae shakes his head. "That is not your brother."

The dragonborn's face twitches. "You are a horse thief and a liar."

Lae smirks. "Actually, I ran here. I didn't steal anything."

(What colour is she, btw? Can we see?

You can see that under her plate armor, she is a red dragonborn; her undead brother is green.

He might have been red once, but he's a bit too decayed to tell.

The dragonborn is fixed on Lae. "Why did you take our horses?"

"If this is what you think your brother is... I do not know what to tell you. But I am sorry for your loss."

@Sciborg "My dwarven friend tells me you did not treat your horses well?"

She shakes her head violently. "I brought him back. He is alive. He is just as he once was. You are lying."

Meanwhile, the undead dragonborn has used its Dash action to return to her and stands glowering at Astrid, and the shadow creature waits poised, ready for orders.

"Keep telling yourself that lie." Lae pauses. "I have heard that there is strong, strong magic which can truly bring the dead back. Have you ever looked for such wizards?"

"Of course, it could be rumors. I have never witnessed someone truly brought back from the dead."

She stares at you for a long time. Her face keeps twitching, as though she is trying to process through the denial but cannot.

Ink says ironically, "Tʜᴇ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ sᴘɪʟʟᴇᴅ ʜᴀs ɴᴀᴜɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴏɴ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴏᴏᴢᴇs ғʀᴏᴍ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀ... Yᴏᴜ sᴇᴇᴋ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴋɪɴ ʙᴜᴛ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴄᴏɢɴɪsᴇ ɪᴛ ɪɴ ғʀᴏɴᴛ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ?"

(Can Lae withdraw his sword? Or drop it?)

(You may, yes.)

Lae withdraws his rapier. "I will not fight you. I too have lost those I have loved."

"Perhaps I can help you find someone who is powerful enough to truly bring your brother back. It may be very expensive to do so, however."

The dragonborn stares at Ink, then looks slowly at her brother, then back to you. She raises a hand, and the shadow creature dissolves into nothing. She drops to her knees in silent grief.

Lae approaches dragonborn cautiously. "I promise I will do my best to bring your brother back. But you must let this body be at peace. Do not dishonor his body in such a way."

Astrid drops the spikes immediately and collapses against the wall

With a kind of heavy sigh, Ink draws a deep breath, his inhalation causing the curse to drop from her shoulders.

(Lae dismisses hunter's mark)

She composes herself and rises. "I will kill no more," she says. "I will fight you no more. But I will accept no help from the likes of you. I never wish to see any of you again." She turns to her brother. "Follow, Kheris. We are going home."

> it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.

oops

(oh, I did not know that. Whoops)

Kheris, obviously incapable of being anywhere near Astrid, backs away and then follows his sister with one last beady-eyed look.

Ink says stiffly, "Mᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ sᴇᴇᴋ."

Lae stands to watch them depart. He turns to Ink, and says in Sylvan, "What do you believe her anguish is?"

Lae turns one last time to the Dragonborn and shouts the following: "True mark of strength is knowing how to overcome grief. May you find peace."

The dragonborn glances back at you, her face sorrowful. "I will never find it again," she says. "But thank you. Now piss off."

"Just went before this, but thanks."

Ink's eyes rest on the dragonborn as they leave and says distractedly, "Trying to alter fate without sufficient humility." and with a feeling of disgust for himself and the whole event turns and walks into the temple again without sticking around.

Astrid has actually fallen asleep; anyone near them can hear a light snoring

(....is ink okay?)

Lae stands and watches them, feeling more sorrow and pity than disgust

(Ink was angry, now he feels like he shouldn't have been, and yet he is still angry anyway. Angry is not a thing Ink is often.

Lae finally turns back into the temple and catches up with Ink.

"What's the matter, friend?"

(y'all leaving sleeping Astrid behind? ;-;)

(Also, it's 9, I think this is a good stopping point)

(for sure, we can leave it there)

I'm guessing this will be a 2-bookmark session

"Nothing... Vengence isn't an answer to anything..." he mutters. "Where's the little one?" He snaps out of it suddeny and looks worriedly around for Astrid.

Damn, talk about character growth!

(not how i expected it to go honestly, i didn't realize lae would feel so bad for them!)

(character growth!)

(Hehe, do you like the new Neutral Good Lae)

Ink will hastily go back to "rescue" Astrid from being asleep in the middle of the entryway and pilot them back to the room.

I'm glad that I could get in one good scream of frustration

If I did not roll that 20, one of us was bound to get knocked out

That 20 potentially saved the whole thing from being a TPK.

Yikes damn

Okay, so I'm going to assume the party goes back into the room and goes in for a rest?

I wouldn't have let a TPK happen, but there was a mild possibility that I was nervous about

Glad we basically evaded it

Would the druid have saved everyone?

(I was really hoping that the druid would have come out at some point, since I did message them ^^;

I was building to the druid appearing after three turns had passed

Yeah I figured there was a timer on that after the first round's background post.

^ Yup

I can't believe Lae felt pity. Didn't think that would happen

Lae was trying to mercy-kill the dragonborn in the opportunity attack

i would definitely have not let it be a TPK, they probably would have spared you. i was just worried that when the non-zombie dragonborn got within melee range it would get Real Bad

yikes

but hey, avoided :p

Urm.. exactly how strong were they?

Also, what was that other dragonborn? Sorceror?

Cleric?

you'll find out later ;)

Another Eldritch Knight?

Okay, welp gtg

(Ink is now upset because he was the rational one before and now in one day he has been ineffective, then told he was being silly by one of the party he felt responsible for, then taught to be less hot-headed by Lae, the other one he felt responsible for. Today is not going down as Ink's Best 24H)

(where did someone say you were silly?)

ahhh, eek. i didn't consider all of that together.

(Nah - he just felt silly because Astrid basically pointed out that he was overthinking. It's okay Ink needs to learn to be less uptight about everything ;p

poor Ink has had a rough day :p

He'll be fine ^^;

i will tell you that these two will almost certainly reappear again since you have spared them, and i think you may have inspired a small Redemption Arc on their part. i am excited to figure out how that changes things in the Plot

Maybe calling them traitors at one point might sink in. >.>;

they are still definitely assholes, but maybe Less Assholes when you see them again :p

haha

title ftw <3

fabulous

I was going to back up Astrid's thing with Fae Presence cause fear, but it has limited range -.-;

that went way better than i expected, i was prepping for like 20 rounds

I wanted to loom behind the dwarf and amplify the effect ^^:

the druid was going to appear and the shadow thing would get involved etc etc

I'll see if I can write up a summary of today from Astrid's perspective. It's certainty been a packed day.

I must say that using Inspiration to re-roll the save was very Awesome and Fun

That was a Cool Moment (TM)

Rule of Cool

We used to have Hero Points in our campaigns (pre inspiration)

In-world, that's two fights in two days

not my strongest DMing today i admit, but we're now past the halfway point of the Plot Progression and things shall pick up soon

They were used for any kind of reroll... mostly to cheat death... but they rarely were as effective as this one ^^;

I didn't want my angry yelling to be for naught

chuckles "Can you tell Astrid really wants them gone?" ... "Yes... they actually told them to go.. that's several 'really's right there"

So-far all of the combats have been shorter than 'borg expected, methinks

admittedly yes, i apologize for the anticlimactic-ness

We don't really do combats in the traditional way >.>;

it was cool!

anticlimactic-ness? o.O;

wha?

I think you misread your audience :P

i just feel a bit bad that we didn't get a longer, cooler fight where you all got to use your powers :p but i am really happy with the Character Development Twist that resulted instead.

There was intense Character Conversations

tailhugs a borg

who needs conventional combats when you have Awesome Characters :D

most of Lae's Combat Awesomeness is first-turn shenanigains

we keep asking rules to be altered because player-character story-arc ;p

and i am 100% on board with that ;p

I honestly wasn't sure what Astrid would do turn-2, was tempted to have them try to run out and then collapse from being tired

I realised that I didn't have much more I could do anyway... I have SFA in the way of spell slots

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

much more fun

now i'm just gonna predict straight up that the last boss fight of the campaign will end 5 turns early when somebody makes the boss cry

are your combats more "successful" with the other groups?

I actually like that Ink has to be humbled into listening to his friends' wisdom instead of worrying about whether they need his assistance.

i consider a "successful" combat to be when everyone contributes some fun stuff, nobody dies, and there's character development. so this combat was perfectly successful

I think this went extremely well, tbh... Anything that causes everyone to think about motivations (including the NPCs)

:P

i neurotically over-worry about whether a session was good sometimes, feel free to ignore me :P

nah - I do too when running one.

It is funny but in 1 day, everyone of the Timid Trio has been made to look at what they thought their overall goal was.

that wasn't 100% my intention, but i am very pleased it worked out that way

everyone needs some good old Self Examination

also it's really nice when you complement my titles <3

I always worry they're not good

they are very good <3

you are all good and i love you

amongst other things ^^;

this is..... literally so poetic and beautiful.

look at what we made ahhhhh

@bobble and they are always amazing and funny and on point, bobble - you need not worry.

i love this campaign

(I hope that summary is vaguely accurate ^^;

it's poetry and it makes me happy

I don't want to stomp on bobble or North's interpretations. ^^;

(yawns and headonpaws)

Next session will be for Johnny and Kith, right? I'm interested in their storyline as well!

I'm worried we're getting too far ahead >>

Yup, next Johnny and Kith session will be "Aiko Spills The Tea"

Yeah - the dynamic duo and the timid trio in alternating episodes :)

Because only 5/17 conversations are the duo <<

And two of those are the same session

So they have 4/11 sessions

most likely a combination of us doing an extra session that one time and the timid trio going first

1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11 are us

Astrid woke up a bit worried about the last night when their (friend? pretty sure friend?) had ran off to fight. Had an interesting conversation about what they thought was a nice neutral topic, the vision. Happily went to the library because that was safe, got all excited about locating Glaevale on the map.

Then travelling, hiding, travelling. A bit boring, but getting more excited. Then talking to the horsies and getting all annoyed because their masters weren't nice. Also worried about Ink wasn't acting like themself. Got swept up in finally getting to Glaevale before realizing that somewhere along the way, it stopped being the goal.

Finally really really wanted to sleep but last thing, had to comfort Ink. Then last thing, had to set up spikies to make dragonslayers go away. Then last thing, had to banish undead thingy. Then... too many last things, too tired, sleepytime.

i mean, i can definitely discuss with Mith and msh if they would have time for a Double Session so they can feel more caught up - i tried to ensure they are in the same Plot Progression spot as you.

annoyingly I had to split it up into three messages

their next session is gonna just be.... FULL of Big Reveals

you good DM who makes fun stories!

<3

I think part of the reason it feels to me like they're behind is we've had a lot more Character Development, but I feel like their next session might remedy that?

That's completely fair to say, you've had a lot more Character Stuff and have focused much more on character conversations. i think that's mostly down to player preference which is totally fine - you guys do much more in-character talking and relating.

they've had more time passing, though

@Sciborg I'll have to see what my schedule is this week (whether or not I'll be bussing around a lot, plus hopefully getting my second vaccine shot)

I have decided that I do not want to ever enter into combat with Ink. Ink is terrifying.

For sure, just a thought - if you have good free days let us know :)

I also realize Astrid doesn't roll much

Lae is somehow always rolling, but I have Astrid not doing very many checks, they've never attacked in combat

@Sciborg some of that might be down to only being two people, so not quite as many opportunities to chat as with the Trio

It's all down to player preference - some players like to roll a lot and some not as much, some talk a lot in-character and share backstories and some don't. nothing wrong with player styles being different :)

@Mithical This is also true, yeah.

@bobble But you know that this is why that was so powerful when Astrid yelled at them to leave, right? :)

You don't have to be all the time to do powerful things with or without rolls.

i enjoy all of your playing styles and i'm happy we all play in our own way

@Sciborg we all like your GMing style, so you should also be covered by this :P

<3 <3

The Trio story so far has been a more serious tale of character development, religious realizations, and moral dilemmas. The Duo has been sassy halfling and the deadly bard romping around ;P

And yes, much kudos to the DM

@Mithical I agree with this having GMed larger groups... The greater the # of players, the more possible interactions, the noisier it gets

@Mithical and i love it :P

@Mithical hahaha but it is such a great entwined story.

this is where someone compares our stories to pop-culture stuff

someone else will have to, I am not good at references

You are Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli; we are Merry and Pippin

lol

I could not describe it any better than that.

that is perfect

do i have to read LotR now

ye

The serious, grim tale of character development and drama...... and then the two hobbits off on an adventure

@bobble Alice in Wonderland is an easier read ;p

I completely forgot to roll for Concentration when I got hit

I also forgot that undead got un-turned when they take damage

@PrinceNorthLæraðr ...i did as well, oops

the sister may have needed to roll too ^^;

but anyway - it doesn't matter!

too late now, i suppose :P

Urm quick question

So why didn't the sister just use like