Baa Ram You - April 18, 2024

 - Cat with Dice

 

BATTLE IN THE SHEEP PASTURE (WITH SHEEP!!)

- SoliderBlue moves up to Zemma and misses twice

- CalleighSheep runs at SBlue, but misses ramming him

- SRed moves past DanSheep taking some dmg in the process then hits Zemma for some dmg (Sorry, I had to pee!)

- Zemma rages and turns into a panther (sort of) and she bites SRed ripping out his entrails

- SGreen moves up to Niniel and smacks her for 9 slashing dmg

- Poetry summons her fire spirit (Ember) next to SPurple then moves around SGreen and casts Thunder Wave at SPurple and SOrange for 6 thunder dmg then Ember grabs SPurple's face fpr 6 fire dmg 

- SOrange moves over to Poetry and slices her for 6 slashing dmg and again for 5 slashing dmg

- DanSheep runs up to and rams SBlue for 22 bludgeoning dmg

- SPurple hits Ember twice

- Niniel moves to flank SGreen with Poetry and casts Shadow Blade summoning a lightning bolt and deal 11 lightning dmg

 

- SBlue deals 2 dmg to DanSheep

- CalleighSheep Skull Bashes SBlue to death, breaking his back over her sheep friend

- Zemma runs over to flank SOrange with Poetry and bites him for 7 piercing dmg

- SOrange deals about 20 dmg to Poetry

- Poetry casts Scorching Ray at all three remaining soldier, but only hits SPurple for 8 fire dmg

- SOrange slices into Poetry for 8 slashing dmg and again for 5 slashing dmg

- Ember belatedly grabs Poetry and teleports her out of the flank turn

- DanSheep runs at SOrange and rams him to death, launching him across the field

- SPurple moves up to DanSheep and slices him for 2 more dmg

- Niniel attempts to hit SGreen with her summoned tentacles, but misses then zaps SPurple for 11 lightning dmg

 

- CalleighSheep jumps away from the zappy that just happened, darts around a scary tentacles and then Skull Bashes the solider with the sword that matches the one stuck in her brother's head for 15 bludgeoning dmg

- SOrange slices into Niniel for some dmg

- Zemma bites SPurple for 11 piercing dmg killing him dead

- Poetry hits SGreen with three Scorching Rays exploding his head and setting his body on fire

 

- A few other soldiers who were craving mutton and witnessed this fight retreat away from the pasture.

- Poetry yells at them that they were warned.

- Fenrick says that it was a scary battle.

- MEANWHILE back in Ainor, Ash compliments Soliana on her dealings with the king and she says she's hoping they can make it to an inn before her panic attack sets in and then he says he's going to go find something (four-legged) to eat and strides off towards the outskirts of town

- Soliana is contemplating finding an alley to retch in when the world goes shimmery and she is hit with intense vertigo and sudden she's standing on small-ish rock in the middle of the ocean with all of her friends and there's no wall of fire any more. There's just a haze.

- There's a clap of thunder and it starts to rain.

- Soliana grabs a bit of leather and uses Illusory Script to write a note to Captain Gringamore to bring the ship to where they are

- While they are waiting, Soliana pulls out Grim and ritually casts Detect Magic (just in case she needs that spell slot later).

- During that ten minutes, Niniel has a wander around the maybe half-mile across island and while she's wandering she finds a little cairn of rocks with a squid's beak balances on top. It feels warm when she picks it up. She apologizes to it for the other little cairn being taken down and then puts it back. 

- Soliana's spell is finally done. The rain is not magical and she doesn't find anything magical at all during the duration of the spell.

- Niniel goes off to have a nap using a mossy rock while gently floating in the surf.

- Caleb rolls some large-ish rocks and does his best to make a sort of tent with his cloak (for Soliana), but he turns around to see she's been mimicking his actions and is maybe half-way through building her own little lean-to.

- Poetry rolls up in her bed roll and resigns herself to being wet and miserable.

- After a while, they start to see some lights through the misty, rainy haze. Stardust lands on Soliana's shoulder.

- After another hour, a small landing craft approaches the island and they all climb aboard. 

- They soon make it back to the ship and Captain Gringamore and explanations are given.

- Once they finally make it to their cabins, Niniel checks her book about myths or legends to see that the entry for Ashkarath the Red Doom has been updated. Everyone is very excited!  

- They spend about a week and a half getting back to where they left the Solaris when Ethan the cabin boy knocks on the cabin door(s) and says the Captain is asking for them. Mostly for Niniel, but everybody joins.

- There's a pool of inky blankness in the middle of the ocean. Niniel says she'll check it out, and Soliana will send Stardust to do a loop.

- The dive Niniel gives off the edge of the ship is impressive. She gets under there and can see absolutely nothing. Like she's wearing a mask. She calls out and there is no response. She picks a direction and starts swimming. 

- Stardust does her loop but doesn't find anything.

- Something eventually smacks Niniel in the forehead. Well, she swims into something. She surfaces to look at it, and it's a piece of wood. It's maybe 12"W and 36" L. The ends feel broken and jagged. She find more debris leading in sort of a direction and finds a big chunk of the remains of a ship with very large round marks darkening the surface. She does not find identifying marks for what or who the boat was. She determines that the marks are definitely Kraken-sized. She attempts to stand on a piece of the boat, but it's not stable enough for her to make it up out of the water. She calls out after survivors and she hears a whistle sound. She heads in that direction and finds a life-boat covered in a sail cloth with a single person (one of the three sailors left on the Solaris) who has a very badly injured leg, possibly infect and is very dehydrated. 

- The sailor is raving about giant eyes watching him."It came! The eyes!" 

 - Niniel tells the sailor to lay down and think light, weight-less thoughts. She gives him some rations and and some water. She hops back in the water and pushes the life boat the best she can while also summoning a human-sized angler fish dancing light above herself while pushing to try to draw attention that way. 

- Attention is drawn and Niniel and the injured sailor are re-united with the Storm Caller.  

- Poetry gives the sailor a look over and determines he is dehydrated, pretty severely sunburned, and his leg is crushed, gashed, and infected.

- While the sailor is being doctored, Niniel catches her breath and then looks in her Patron Pouch and finds a severed finger. She immediately hides it in the Bag of Holding.

- The sailor's leg is better, but he's still raving.

- Aldren the first mate comes over to Niniel to debrief. Niniel tells the story of how she was on a boat that was destroyed by a Kraken when she was a little cabin boy on another ship. She recommends booking it back to shallower water to be safe. 

- Captain Gringamore proceeds to do just that.

 

- 1,000 XP ea for 7,000 XP total ea. LEVEL FIVE

#NotAllDragons - April 4, 2025

 - Penguin Fellowship + CR zip-up hoodie

 

- Ashkarath the Red Doom flies through the night and the coast of the mainland begins to come into view as the sun rises. Soliana recommends landing outside of the city by about half a mile and walking in as humans to request an audience with the king. Just as Ashkarath is banking, a ballista bolt flies past.

- Meanwhile back on the island, General Howard approaches the remaining three members of the party and attempts to arrest them.

SKILLZ CHALLENGE

- Niniel summons two of her tentacles and attempts to Intimidate the people trying to grab her (SUCCESS) "You don't want to play this game!"

- Poetry summons Ember and starts fighting the people who are trying to grab her, but they came prepared for fire damage (Arcana FAIL) Poetry is grappled.

- Zemma tackles the guy who has grabbed Poetry and completely knocks the wind out of him (Athletics SUCCESS) Poetry is free again. The sheep are starting to get agitated.

- MEANWHILE, Caleb looks down and sees two teams of soldiers manning ballista siege weapons one who is reloading and the other who is just getting ready to fire. Caleb watches them very carefully and tells Ashkarath when to dodge and the second ballista also misses. (Perception SUCCESS)

- Soliana grabs the claw that's around her waist and uses her magic to pump Ashkarath full of energy so that he can get out of range of the siege weapons as quickly as possible. (Arcana SUCCESS)

- MEANWHILE, Niniel singles out an army himbo and tries to convince him that Ashkarath has some monsterous sheep and they are coming. Himbo man is unconvinced. (Deception FAIL)

- Poetry grabs Zemma's hand and darts into the trees, but immediately takes a tree branch to the face (Survival FAIL)

- Zemma tries to jump out of the knee-deep mud puddle she fell into on the trail Poetry pulled her into, but she can't get enough traction (Acrobatics FAIL)

- MEANWHILE, Soliana spends a Feather Fall and she and Caleb land perfectly safely in a pasture near to the ballista station. Caleb summons one of his psychic blades and throws it slicing a rope on the ballista that is ready to shoot disabling it. (Sleight of Hand SUCCESS)

- Soliana looks around and sees that they are slowly getting surrounded by the soldiers who were manning the ballista. Soliana straightens her tabard and announces herself, "I am Marshall Ashera here to meet with the King about the dragon issue we have been having." The soldiers who could barely hear her stopped and looked at her more closely, and just at that moment Ashkarath swoops down and scoops up her and Caleb again. He flies them over a hill to a copse of trees where they will lay low for a few hours. (Persuasion SUCCESS)

- SKILL CHALLENGE SUCCEEDED

- Meanwhile back on the island, Niniel, Poetry, and Zemma attempt to sneak back to Fenrick's cottage but, as soon as they get to the cottage the little sheep who cuddled with Soliana bounds up to the three of them sees none of them are Soliana and immediately start balling at the top of his lungs (11, 12, and 13 for group stealth)

- Poetry immediately Wild Shapes into a duplicate of Soliana's new best friend

- Zemma crouches down and weaves her way into the middle of the herd where the sheep are bigger than she is

- Fenrick has come out to see what's going and Niniel gives him a ten second summary of what's going on before she turns herself invisible. 

- Less than one minute later a couple of soldiers approach and ask Fenrick what's going on with the sheep and Fenrick says that sometimes they just get bored and start singing to themselves.

- One of the soldiers says he'll stay up here to watch the sheep and make sure nothing happens to them.

- Niniel looks around and sees Zemma just crouching down in the pasture not moving no longer hidden by sheep who have wandered away from her, so Niniel tell her to go hide in a hay pile, then she finds the Poetry-sheep and also directs her to the slightly enclosed hay pile.

- They convene a meeting in the hay pile, and Niniel wants to take out the remaining soldier, but Poetry asks what the purpose of attacking that guy is since his 200 friends would then come and kill them back. 

- They agree to just hide in the hay for a while with Niniel taking another quick jaunt before her Invisibility spell ends to ask Fenrick to start talking loudly about fruit if something bad starts to happen. A confused Fenrick agrees.

- MEANWHILE, Soliana and Caleb have a trance through the morning and when they are rested, the three of them approach the city and are stopped at the guarded entrance and made to explain themselves.

- Soliana miraculously manages to bluff their way into a meeting with the King.

- They are taken to where the King is drilling with the army and preparing to guard the city against the attack of a ferocious dragon. 

- Another person gets in Soliana's way, and when she tries to cast a Message cantrip to the King and gets tackled by like four soldiers just as the spell goes off.

- Soliana introduces "Ash" as a trusted emissary of Ashkarath the Red Doom and a protracted discussion about giving Ashkarath land to keep sheep and a deal for where 1000 acres and then Ashkarath will defend Ainor against invaders as that would endanger his sheep. The king is very skeptical about a dragon who likes sheep more than treasure, so it's a long road. It takes a lot of convincing for the King to believe that Ashkarath does not have a hoard full of gold and jewel and treasure.

(Missed opportunity for the king to be almost as obsessed with sheep as Ashkarath. What a twist that could have been.)

- MEANWHILE back on the island, while hiding in the hay, Niniel, Poetry, and Zemma overhear some soldiers talking about how they're going to take and eat one of the sheep, so Niniel goes Invisible again and run to get Fenrick. 

- The three soldiers aren't deterred by Fenrick, so Niniel steps out of cover and tells them they WILL be eaten by a dragon if they take this sheep (who is named Merrill)

 - 750 XP ea for 6,000 XP total ea.