The day is bright and clear in your forest home. Among the eclectic creatures you call family, everyone has a place and everyone has a job to do. After all, even in this peaceful glade winter could still be a terrible enemy and the cold weather was approaching fast this year. Dion the satyr, unofficial patriarch of the clan has asked each of you to perform a special task for him in place of your normal daily duties.
At the Southern edge of the forest, there is a blight. Not large, but occasionally dangerous. A place of rotted ground and blankets of fungi, it is home to unnatural creatures. A group of the forest's fey had developed a kind of antidote that reduced the blight but one of them had been captured in the night. Apparently, the blight had a sense of self preservation and spawned foul, tendriled monsters to protect itself.
And during the blight's treatment last night, a pixie by the name of Arianne was separated from her group in an attack by large purple monsters. And while her friends returned to your glade, panicked but unharmed, Ariane never showed up.
Caireann can't believe Arianne (born on the same day, and sharing almost the same name) is missing.
The tiny Grig grabs all of her equipment, and goes to Dion.
"I know you have always told me I am too young and inexperienced, but I have to go and save Arianne! She is my friend!"
She looks at her other fiends pleadingly.
"We have to go and save her!"
"Slow down Caireann, you can't go rushing into things like this again," Sykk chirps back to her as he gathers his few possessions.
He turns to Arianne and asks, "Can you tell us a little more about these monsters you saw?"
I would very much like to study them... he thought as he ran a claw along his old spellbook.
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Hrrm had been hiding when the news came. He had several special spots where he could see and hear most of what goes on without revealing himself. When he heard that Ariane was missing, he let out a loud roar and strode from his hiding place.
"Ariane Family. Hrrm go."
Hrrm began pulling together his few possessions that he kept in a large bag; The special throwing rocks and the drinks that Dion gave him over the years, the shiny coins that sparkle in the light as well as his special stabbing spear and whatever knick-knacks he has collected. It looked painfully small against his massive body, but that is o.k. because he doesn't need much.
"They were giant purple mushrooms with long black tentacles," said Leila, Arianne's sister. "They came out of hiding in the blighted area of the woods while we were spraying our potion to cure the forest. They got between us and Arianne. I'm not sure what happened to her."
"I think I saw her run into the blight to get away from the monsters," said Faera, the third member of their little group.
Caireann flies on top of "Herman", as she call the Sasquatch.
"That is the spirit Herman! Please, come with us! The more we are the easiest will be to save Arianne! Make haste! She could be hurt!"
Highfeather and Rikket rushed towards Caireann and Hrrm. Highfeather hooted to announce his presence before perching on one of Rikket's horns. "I came as soon as soon as I heard what happened, Rikket had to wake me up, being nocturnal can be an inconvenience sometimes. We will go with the ape and the insect, this blight must be destroyed. My magic can help with that. Pixies, does this blight have any notable weaknesses?"
"Insect?!?"
"Yes it does," they say in unison. They hand over a couple of shell-made vials corked with clay. They contain a muddy green liquid. "Spray this over the blight and the fungus will die. The problem is getting the forest to reclaim the region before the mushrooms do. Dion's magic can do the trick, though."
Ludvig had been sitting nearby up in a tree bow, dangling his legs, humming a tune, and enjoying a touch of wine. Hearing the commotion a distance away, he feigns disinterest while listening intently. "It is a beautiful day, a day for great beginnings, a day for epic quests. This seems to be a small matter, but it could be more..." Hopping down from his perch, he strides over to the quickly assembling company.
"Tis true then? A damsel in distress - ye'll be needin' me help then, eh? Don't ye wurry yeself, I'll keep ye safe. We'll best any threat, fell any foe, an' make it home for a nice, tasty pint. So, shall we be off?"
OOC Let's see if this works. It's my first PbP so things are going to be a bit choppy.
Lifespark +1 Bastard Sword Small Animated Object AC 21 T 15 FF 16 HP 30
F 0 Ref +4 Will +2 Perc +6 (Dark Vision and Low Light)
Stormbringer pulses in fury that one so small would be threatened by a blight unnatural to the realm it defends. The small ones amuse and delight Stormbringer in their attempts to defeat the onset of an obviously Chaos-infused blight. The balance of the forest is a playful form of Chaos, not ruinous change fiends that are nothing but parasites. The Black Blade truly has a cause, and a group of heroes to form a new story.
It intones in a sonorous though female dramatic contralto: "Corruption must not spread beyond its defined boundaries. The local Balance is threatened. We will do our utmost to purge this corruption, and make sure this story continues. Onwards to the foe! We hunger for souls and blood for the day." Stormbringer takes up a position about 10 feet above the party (as the treeline allows), and assumes a guard stance, ready to cut or thrust as needed.
Highfeather studies the vials, "Those of youwith opposable thumbs can use these, I'll cover you with magic while you're doing it. "
He then spins his head around to look at Caireann and says " Have you looked at your lower half, Miss O'Shea? Appears quite insectoid to me."
Caireann shows her tongue at the owl.
"Have you seen YOUR lower half? Looks like your head to me!"
She flies to take a couple vials, and then flies next to the sasquatch.
The walk down to the Southern edge of the forest takes a while, for this is a large woodland. As you get towards the edge of the blight, the bright green leaves of the late summer become a dead brown. The bark of the trees blackens and colorful fungi sprout from the trunks and lower branches, until finally, you enter the blight.
Rather than moss or grass, a strange purple mold covers the ground. Nothing natural grows save for the giant mushrooms that have all together replaced the trees. Even the weeds have been choked out of this land.
Caireann is amazed, as this is the first time in her short life she has seen something like this.
She carefully examines the mold, and take care in getting some samples for her alchemical experiments.
Sykk lands near the edge of the mold with Caireann, and looks around to find a stick to poke the mold with. He gives to mold a few good taps before looking up deeper into the mushroom forested blight.
"Caireann, may I see one of the vials? We should test a few drops to see how effective it is while we have time."
"Of course..."
Caireann playfully toss the vial up high, forcing Sykk to catch it from the high fall.
"Ack!" Sykk squeaks as he twists to catch the falling vial. He delicately snaps it out of the air in his mouth before falling backward, unbalaned by his makeshift backpack and its heavy contents.
Sykk throws Caireann a glare from his spot on the ground, and with his mouth full grumbles to himself.
He shifts back up and opens the vial to let a few drops of the liquid fall to the strange mold.
Stormbringer hovers over its charges, making sure that no vile fungi comes to claim its chosen brethren. Too often has its wielders and elements of the story have come under attack and fallen without its vigilance to take care of them, and this story will not go into tragedy past its first scene. Using its elementary storage of natural and unnatural phenomena, the Black Blade observes the fungal growth more closely, attempting to discern any pattern or magical origin.
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"Hhhhrrrrmmmm.". Hrrm waits patiently, knowing that his little friends will not be happy until they have prodded and poked and tested it. But Hrrm is a hunter, he is used to waiting patiently for his prey. Besides he has seen the blight before - not this close because it smelled bad, but close enough to see that it was mushrooms. Standing still and rumbling to himself he waits for his friends to finish.
There is a wave of dull purple flame that washes out from the place on the mold the potion touched down. The mold withers up into a grey dust. From just a few drops, a spot several feet in diameter is cleared.
The origins of the mold is a mystery to you, but you know that Ariane isn't the only person to have been claimed by the blight.
As to rumors, there are a few. Some say the blight was caused by the death of a dark druid who cursed the ground with their dying breath. Others believe that a fiendish spore from another planE found solace in your forest and has begun to claim it. Still some think that this is just the natural evolution of a fast growing mushroom.
Caireann looks worriedly forward.
"I only hope Arianne is ok... I will scout ahead, follow me as silently as you can."
She will fly in front of the others, some 40', scouting ahead, trying to be as stealthy as possible, going from fungus to fungus, looking for cover...
Caireann sees movement up ahead, 300ft in front of the party. They appear to be mushroom men wearing armor of bones and wielding wooden spears and shields. They have not seen you.
Caireann quickly flies back to the rest and let them know what she saw.
"We can ambush them! If you want I can fly invisible to them, and throw a thunderstone in their midst. Then you all pound them to paste!"
Caireann then turns invisible.
Hrrm feels the tiniest kiss on his cheek, from an invisible source.
"Try to leave one alive, maybe it can tell us where Arianne is."
I'm going to assume you are all going in through Stealth?
Stealth rolls
Caireann-54(still going with what you rolled earlier plus Invisibility)
Hrrm-14 (using what you rolled earlier)
Enemy Perception
Caireann flies unseen to 20ft from the closer of the two mushroom men. She chucks a piece of thunderstone near them, but still far enough to save her from the worst of the effects.
Fort Saves
Initiative Rolls
Mushroom Man with Spear-15
Sykk-14
Ludvig-14
Mushroom Man with Spear and Shield-12
High-Feather-9
Stormbringer-9
Hrrm-7
Caireann-7
While the thunderstone stuns one of the mushroom men, the other searches around for the source of the attack. It spots a not quite hidden Ludvig and charges, longspear extended as it rushes.
Luckily, the mushroom while not the best cover did provide enough protection to save you from the attack.
Sykk and Ludvig are up.
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Highfeather hoots and casts mage armor, suddenly becoming surrounded in a translucent dark purple barrier of force. He then flies into a tree, closer to the mushroom men. Rikket snorts and prepares to charge at the enemies but highfeather shouts at him, I'll handle this friend, save your energy." The goat familiar looks quite sad and attempts to hide in some bushes.
Sykk jumps back from the creature and hovers a few feet above the ground.
Muttering incantations and forming gestures, sparks start forming and swirling around his claws, and he shoots a jolt of electricity at the mushroom creature that attacked Ludvig.
The mushroom man seems to unaffected by the spell, despite being hit directly.
Caught quite offguard that the creature could not ony see him, but would be foolish enough to attack him, exclaimed loudly. "Now, now, ye lil mushman, we'll 'ave none o' this. Time for a good wallopin'!"
With his final word, ludvig lifts his cudgel and swings it mightily at the mushroom person.
Ludvig brings his little cudgel down onto the mushroom cap of the fungus-like creature. Again, it seems unaffected by the attack as it's soft head absorbs the impact.
The other mushroom man, the one protected by the wooden shield, recovers from its daze. It also charges the Leprechaun.
Ludvig steps to the side and avoids the other creature's thrust.
High Feather, Hrrm, Stormbringer, and Caileann are up.
Stormbringer slashes at the 1st Enemy, blade poised to take life.
Caireann looks for a place behind a fungus tree to hide, within 30' of the enemies.
(I think +1 for each 10', and +5 as Creature making the check is distracted - in Combat)
Once there she draws her bow and arrow.
Stormbringer cuts through the back of the creature tearing through it's vegetative body. Like a mushroom, it's insides seem to be rather dry.
The mushroom man sidesteps Hrrm's thrust. The Sasquatch only manages to impale the ground.
Highfeather lets out an ear-splitting screech as his flash eyes purple for a few seconds, looking directly at the mushroom man that Hrrm attempted to hit. He then begins to laugh wildly, screeching and hooting.
The creatures seem to be unaffected by the evil eye as well.
The first of the mushroom creatures, the one armed with only a spear, turns and attacks Stormbringer.
The floating blade parries and deflects the spear's thrust.
Sykk and Ludvig are up.
Seeing that everyone's attacks were mostly ineffective, and the creatures being completely immune to his electricity based spells, Sykk flies up above one the creature attacking Hrrm.
He uncorks his vial, and attempts to let a few drops fall onto the creature.