To the point of Exhaustion - Caress Melani - Session 17

Welcome Brawl at the Lodge 

There wasn't any time to take a break or recover from the conflict with the troll. No sooner did the four-armed killer's body flare up into flames after Lyra shoved them into the fireplace, than Mythram darted out to chase down the cultist that had fled the fight, taking him down with a single arrow. Unfortunately his cries had already alerted others and Caress could hear the shouts confronting Mythram.

"Invaders! For what reason do you intrude on these grounds! Surrender now or your suffering shall be a lesson for the children in future days."

The cry of pain that followed, in a different voice, told Caress what Mythram's response to that was. For her part, the yuan-ti tapped into the divine font through her connection to Sharess and felt some of her injuries knitting closed. She darted out into the courtyard and caught sight of a pair of kobolds with feather dusters staring down at her.

"I'd advise you to either surrender or flee," she called out in draconic, seeing one of the two drop to the ground in response.

"I could use a little help," Ravyn called from behind her and Caress darted back to the warlock's side to provide her the healing she could. 

Blasts, Heals, and Blades

 

Welcome Brawl at the Lodge - Caress Melani - Session 16

Worms and Ringers 

Castle Naerytar certainly looked like the sort of place that legend said you'd find a black dragon. There was a pervasive atmosphere of decay and a corrosive taste to the air that was beyond unpleasant. The Order of the Gauntlet guards within were more than happy to direct the group on toward the portal that the cultist leader had fled through. They all geared up to get ready for the trip, worried that the other side would be held against them by prepared cultists and perhaps another dragon.

Instead on sending Ijit through to investigate Ravyn reported that it seemed to be an unguarded exit and that there was nothing in the area aside from a nearby hunting lodge which currently seemed to be empty. Cautiously they moved through the portal.

"It's a little bit cold."

Caress nodded in agreement and shivered, wishing her tattoos helped guard her against the elements as well as it held off the bite of blades and fangs. Moving closer to the reported hunting lodge, they came to find it, standing tall with at least four levels of windows visible on the face. There was a great foundation of stone below a framework of wooden walls and high-arched roof with embedded windows. At first they could find nothing of interest, no activity even, but then they came to find the sign of trolls in the back rigging up a number of human-sized lizards for use as hunting animals.

Looking back, they saw the rolling mist circulating about the portal and then glanced ahead towards the hunting lodge. Advancing carefully, Mythram walked up to the door and knocked upon it. A moment later, the door was opened to reveal a white kobold sticking its snout out into entrance. 

"What does it want?"

A second kobold stepped forward to the first and performed a gesture towards the party.

"No, they make the gesture, not us. What does it want?"

Ravyn, recognizing the gesture for what it was, a praise of Tiamat, takes the opportunity to step forward.

Sneaky Mythram, Tricksy Ravyn

The Second Rounds - From Bazzozan to the Rise - Sessions 7-9

(Going to summarize because I've missed several sessions on this and if I don't do this it'll be harder to do detailed narrative journals as I move on)

After the battle with the gibbering mouthers, the Second Rounds moved around the town looking into things. At the edge of the town crematorium Esoh traded a schematic for a radiant bonfire creator in exchange for reputation and help as well as some bullets for Snype.

Elara had a discussion with one of the local priests at the infirmary, a nice lady, but a little bit on the thirsty side. 

Worms and Ringers - Caress Melani - Session 15

Shields, Scales, Shadows, and Shit 

The hull of the Grand Shanty was a bit too thoroughly infested for them to easily handle. Not in the sense that it would be difficult to kill the hull worms that had infested that part of the ship so much as it was that if they did kill the worms, then the ship would probably sink. They had replaced far too much of the structure of the ship. Though perhaps this needed explanation so rewinding a bit.

Talk on the Grand Shanty

When they had been swept up by the parade of ghosts, they found themselves escorted into the heart of a sailing ship that had been converted into a tavern and inn. And the entertainments were quite top notch. The food and company were high quality indeed with a lovely man behind the bar by the name of Sharkbite Sam who had a lot of advice to give about what to order.

Shields, Scales, Shadows, and Shit - Caress Melani Journal - Session 16

 Much Sadness About Larry

(Hero Forge coming later... NaNoWriMo is a thing) 

Caress looks over the shield carefully and then back towards Lyra. "This shield allows me to do, what?" 

"It lets you transfer some of the pain of a blow to one of your allies."

The idea seems counter-intuitive and it was likely that the blank expression on her face betrayed that thought somewhat as the eladrin leaned forward to explain the matter a bit more clearly.

"A lot of us are in the backfields, out of the line of battle, and, not to put her under the the catapult," she glanced toward the warlock who shrugged and then let her continue. "But Ravyn is probably hardier than you are."

Much Sadness about Larry - Caress Melani Journal - Session 15

Squashing a Spider

 "Five hundred coins to clean the latrines?" 

Their party member seemed a bit incredulous at Ravyn's news though Caress nodded.

"They are quite... advanced in their..." her nose crinkled in visible distaste, "...state of decay."

"Larry seemed resigned to the news himself," Ravyn commented. "Which matches with what we've seen so far. Things unrepairing themselves. The disease and poison that Caress sensed in the kitchen..."

"Disease and poison which you said did not touch any of the food," Mythram noted directing her attention to Caress.

"Correct," she confirmed. "Nor was he willing to leave the tavern for sort of break or companionship. He spoke of a time when his son was cooking for them."

"I found some more about that," the rogue noted. "Larry's sons left the tavern and encountered... "

'Bad luck?" 

"Not so much bad luck as it was that they were no longer blessed. If you've lived your entire life with divine fortune then normal luck feels bad to you. Something protects this place, there's marks here warning thieves away."

"I have to admit that I didn't think to ask about the tavern during my visit to the local chapter of the Order of the Gauntlet.

"How did that go by the way?"

Meeting at Sad Larry's

 

Squashing a Spider - Caress Melani Journal - Session 14

Plans Ghoulish and Guarded

Ravyn and Caress sat and caught their breaths, attending to their injuries as Mythram and Lyra scoured the cavern for any sign of interesting things. Somewhere in the darkness of a passageway, another doppleganger passing as drow lay in a mindless heap, body catching up to brain in the race toward death after the sorcerer had ripped their mind to pieces. Bugbear corpses lay about the scene of the fight. destroyed by forces divine and eldritch.

"I think that this may be what they were looking for," Lyra suggested as she indicated a long dead dwarven corpse embedded mostly into the mud. "These gauntlets have a bit magic to them. I think they might make someone stronger."

"My first thought is to give that to Caress, but..." Mythram looked over to the yuan-ti.

"Sharess guides my arm, I'm not sure enhanced strength will do me much good."  

"Yeah that's what I thought," the rogue said. 

"Well, we'll set aside for a bit later," Lyra said. "And I guess the next question is to which direction we should turn to after this."

"It looks like this passage will give us another route past those doors from before," Mythram said, pointing past the doppleganger's corpse.

Rest and Reconnaissance

"The big ones set up to be very portentous and noisy when opening?" Ravyn asks.

Plans Ghoulish and Guarded - Caress Melani Journal - Session 13

Bounded Waves

"Ghouls, eating bones." Mythram said quietly as she closed the door again. 

"Those are dangerous undead as I recall," Caress noted.

"Cunning and vicious creatures that arose from a pact with Orcus. Their claws can cause bodies to freeze up and leave them vulnerable to being devoured," Ravyn said. "I've read a few books now and again and the subject has come up."

"Then we'll want to prepare before we move in," Lyra suggested.

"I have a charm I can cast upon myself to keep the claws of the dead and fiends at bay," Caress said. "I would have to cease my focus on the blessing of protection I gave Mythram." She gestured toward the slight silver shimmer around the rogue.

"It's probably a good idea, but there's a second exit and this one..." 

The rogue looked toward the door that lacked a lock and opened into the room.

"We're not going to be barricading it."

"Perhaps, we set up on this one and barricade the other, if you can get to it safely," Ravyn suggested.

"I should be able to do that," Mythram agreed.

The plan in place, Caress let the divine power flow into her whip and stood at the door ready to open it and Mythram stepped away. Ravyn moved to the intersection a moment later where she could keep watch on both groups. Then the sound of pitons hammering around the corner came clear. 

"Let evil wash away like a river carries away stagnation to the sea," she whispered and opened the door.

Almost instantly, a ghoul launched across the room and lashed out at her, struggling to fight through the dragon-blooded tattoo and the blessing of Sharess and failing miserably. But as she watched, Caress saw the other ghouls burst through the barricaded door out the other side of the room. 

It was a ghoul plan, and it went ghoulishly.

 

The Second Rounds - Fleshy Madness - Session Six

Journal Page 
The Arrival at Bazzoxan

The Second Round woke up after a night of rest and came down into the common room of the Ready Room, seeking out Delez Demona to ask the bartender where they might find the commander of the garrison. 

"Well, that would be Verin Thelyss, he's been here some years now," the bartender said.  "If you're looking for mercenary work, I can definitely tell you they'd be interested."

"All right," Elara asked. "Where can we find him."

Delez blinked and pointed out the door. "That'll be him right now. Oh no..."

The group turned around and looked to see a tall drow running alongside two guards, an orc and a goblin, heading for the gates of the Betrayer's Rise.

Bounded Waves - Caress Melani Journal - Session 12

The Cult and the Dragon

 

Caress looked over the flowing images of cats stalking and lazing along a river bed as they sat in the camp. The druid was leading them by twists and turns that maybe a ranger could follow, but which already had her turned around. She wondered if Lyra was having an easier time keeping track of things given she hailed from the Feywild, but had to admit that she'd only heard vague stories about that place, it might be perfectly signposted and easy to navigate.

She focused herself again on the images now embedded into her skin and wondered if the images had come from her or if they were something that Reidoth had built into the enchantment. Would the images be shadows for Mythram or the moonlight and rays for Lyra. And then there was the question of what it could possibly be for Ravyn. 

 

Tattoos with dragon blood and magic for ink.

 

The Second Round - Arrival at Bazzoxan - Sessions Four and Five

Journal Page  

South Through the Wastes 

(going to be skimpy because I was stupid and waited for too long and my brain leaked all the details)

The Second Round and Rivals of Destiny came into the Emerald Loop and had a moment of respite among the merchants that had stopped there for the evening. Tarre went about doing the mundane tasks of camping as Annalch puttered about with her alchemy set and tried to process the fact that her mothers were now dead. As for the heroes of the two adventuring parties, they gave the merchant some space and moved about on their own interactions.