Akiam and Croth, you both meet up in an alleyway far from the Nudgeity Tavv, Akiam you on foot and Croth, you from the rooftops. You sit there a moment and catch your breath, and as you do, you see a motion above you. Please make a perception check.
DC15 PERCEPTION reveals a woman whose face is covered in red and silver cloth descending from rooftops to the PC's hiding spot. Vazidra Naerth (HIGH PITCH BETELGUESE WHISPERY TYPE VOICE)
*Hey hey hey, I happened to notice you've been runnin from the guard. I know you have no clue who I am, but I promise, I've been in your shoes, and I know how valuable refuge is right now. I can give that to you.*
Vazidra Naerth will try her best to persuade the party and convince them to come with her to Orcus Bloom.
Vazidra bounds up the building next to you, and peers down for you to follow her up.
ACROBATICS CHECK TIME - building is 40 feet tall
DC15 - complete success
DC10 - you make it about half way up, but you've also skidded down in small spurts here and there. Please make another acrobatics check (same dc's)
DC >10 - you find it incredibly difficult to scale the wall. In fact, you're having trouble getting even onto the top of the first windowsill. / you skid down about 5 feet. please make another acrobatics check (same dc's)
One way or another, you all manage to make it to the center of town, and to the castle. From here, Vazidra leads you down a fire escape and into a restaurant. Though, once you're inside, it seems to just be a gaudy and try-hard bar. Vazidra makes eye contact with the bartender, and I would like for you to make a perception check for me.
DC17 - You see as Vazidra is swinging her arms, you watch as her right ring and middle finger brush against the leather of her belt.
Dc>16 - You aren't really sure why, but...
You see the bartender nod, and Vazidra leads you back into the kitchen, and from there, down a set of small servant's stairs to the wine cellar. From there, she brings you to a vent by the stairwell, which she wiggles her knife underneath and shimmies it open. From there she says, "When we're in here, we're gonna be going right past some of the royal guard's barracks. You're gonna need to be quiet or else they're gonna send some nasty boys into the vents to chase us down and bring our entrails to the king. Okay?"
And with that, she hops into the vent with grace, and disappear down the ventilation shaft. Please make an acrobatics check for me.
DC7 - hop right on in
DC6 - try again bucko
IN THE VENTS
DC15+ - you make it through to the end of the vents without alerting any guards.
DC14-7 - your knee bumps against the wall of the ventilation shaft, and the group has to stop, praying for the guards around to brush off the noise and move along. Please make another stealth check. (apply same dc's) [2nd time around guard investigates a vent next to him. 25% chance of finding pc's
DC>6 - you have made too much noise and you have been spotted by the guards via the ventilation shaft. we'll come back to this.
FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THE CELL:
They plop you all onto horses and escort you over into the castle. Once inside, they rather roughly take you down from your horse again, at at this point they are going to attempt to handcuff Celqrys. They lead you underneath the castle via a narrow set of stairs. However, I would like for you to make a perception check for me.
DC10 PERCEPTION reveals Belari Kuff, Lady Belladonna, speaking rather angrily with a royal adviser, and she is demanding to see whoever sent out the arrest orders. She can be seen through a crack in a door at the bottom of the stairwell.
You are lead down into a large hexagonal room, which you would have to guess is some sort of an emergency armoury. There, you are stripped of your weapons and other possessions, which are all placed in a burlap sack. One guard takes the sack down a hallway to the left, and you are all led down a hallway to the right, through a dog kennel and into a large cell. Inside of that cell you see a drow man sitting beneath a vent. Can I have a wisdom check from Aelar M and Celqrys?
[DC13 it's the drow man in the chef's outfit from the ball]
You recognize him as the man in the chef outfit, who had been rushing past the ballroom on the night that the queen died. The cuffs are kept on you, and you are tossed into the cell before it being locked with multiple keys. Outside your cell two guards remain standing watch. The innards of this cell are bleak. There's a bucket in the corner, a bench hung on the wall, and at the top of the wall, about 15 feet up, is a vent.
[IF THEY TRY TO TOUCH THE VENT, THEY WILL TAKE 1D4 LIGHTENING DAMAGE. There is no real way of undoing the vent, as it appears to be screwed onto the other side of the wall, with the space between the slats too small for even a gnome's pinkie to fit through.]
[ITEMS WERE TAKEN INTO THE STORAGE ROOM]
May you all make a perception check for me? [IF THEY SEE, WRITE IT ON A PAPER AND GIVE IT TO THEM]
DC17 PERCEPTION - you see a small string drop down from the vent and snake behind Avbin's back.
DC18 PERCEPTION - you see a small string drop down from the vent and snake behind Avbin's back and into his hands. You see his arms start to wiggle ever so slightly.
DC19 PERCEPTION - you see a small string drop down from the vent, and a glint of metal attached to it. You see it go behind Avbin's back and into his hands, and you watch his arms start to wiggle ever so slightly.
DC20+ PERCEPTION - you see a small string drop down from the vent, with a glint of metal and with two nearly invisibly black rectangular prisms attached to it. You see them snake behind Avbin and into his hands, and you see his arms start to wiggle ever so slightly.
What do you do?
[avbin will unlock his cuffs, and then he will try to throw knives into the necks of the guards. dc 16 If he is successful, then the grate will slowly come off of the wall and be placed on the floor by Vazidra Naerth. She will then lead Avbin and the party out of the castle via the vents, with avbin insisting he go in last. If only one guard is downed, he will run to fetch help, time to roll initiative. Vents require stealth checks to pass through. If not, guards will bust into the cell and try to pin down Avbin and then they will call for help. PC's aren't on their own, though, as when the guards bust in, Vazidra Naerth will spring from the vents to help him. Guard Stats. If one of them is killed, the other will run, Vazidra will bring everyone into the vents, and then it is time to make stealth checks. If the guards had already been alerted, roll initiative when entering the vents.
~~~
AS OF 10.11.19
- the left-most guard was killed by Avbin Lenoké
- the right most guard has been poisoned, and Celqrys is making lots of fireworks in his face. no sounds, just lights.
- Beerus is poisoned and on the floor with super mega nausea^tm
- Celqrys, Surina, Akiam Thornwell, Croth, Vazidra Naerth, and Avbin Lenoké don't have cuffs on
- Volté and Beerus know of the anti magic on the cuffs (beerus knows of the fun nausea addition!)
- THOSE WHO SAW Belari Kuff: CELQRYS, VOLTÉ, ADRIX, SURINA, BOTH AELARS, DENCH, AND BEERUS
- Aelar Amastacia recognized Lady Belladonna
- Aelar A. recognized Avbin Lenoké in the cell
- the current month is Taipumus/tend
NAUSEA
-disadv. on anything related to balance (primarily dex stuff)
-disadv. to hit anything
-can be cleared by condition-clearing spells and abilities.
~~~
Get marching order before going through the vents.
DC15+ - you make it through to the end of the vents without alerting any guards.
DC14-7 - your knee bumps against the wall of the ventilation shaft, and the group has to stop, praying for the guards around to brush off the noise and move along. Please make another stealth check. (apply same dc's) [2nd time around guard investigates a vent next to him. 25% chance of finding pc's
DC>6 - you have made too much noise and you have been spotted by the guards via the ventilation shaft. time to roll initiative
send 3 dogs in through different parts of shaft. use the map to mark where they are. move at half speed, 2/3. time to murder the dogs! if they make it out before the dogs reach them they are home free https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Mastiff#content
You turn a corner, and after Avbin, who had been keeping up the rear of the party, turns it as well, he slams a trap door down, and you hear one of the dogs slam into the door, but after you hear some barking and scratching, you hear them give up and turn back around. Vazidra Naerth leads you all down a straight ventilation shaft for what seems like a long time, and eventually she opens a trapdoor in front of her and you all file out into what appears to be a wine cellar.
And the drow woman says, "Look, I uh, I know you're in a pretty tight spot right now, y'know, with being now fugitives and all, but we can get you a place of refuge."
And Avbin pipes up and says [DEEP IN CHEST, BOTTOM OF ADOM'S APPLE] "No, you can get them a place of refuge. I told you I don't like this plan."
The drow woman gives Avbin a dirty look and says, "I'm Vazidra. I'm the one tasked with getting you all to safety."
[VAZIDRA CONVINCES THEM TO COME TO ORCUS BLOOM.]
Vazidra leads you further through this wine cellar, further and further through shelves of wine, though none of it seems to be old or of high quality. She leads you all behind a curtain hiding maintenance tools, and she and Avbin move a great big chest aside to reveal what appears to be a dug tunnel underneath this building. So, there are a couple of options for how you want to do this. If you want to talk to either Vazidra or Avbin, or each other even, now is your chance. If you don't we can do a quick fade to black and you'll be at the end of this long underground tunnel.
[insert rp here]
You reach the end of this tunnel, and towards the end it slopes up and you hear rushing water. You get up to the end of the tunnel and you find that you are on the coast of the Great Lake of Hajim, towards the outskirts of the capital. And in front of you, you see a giant building. It is about 5 stories tall, and it is effectively a cylindrical building made primarily out of stone. Around it are quite a number of small huts and tents, and there is a wall surrounding the little community that's about one story tall.
Vazidra Naerth and Avbin Lenoké lead you through the small camp in front of the building, and while they do, she and Avbin do something that is rather shocking to you. They actually take their scarves off, and they do not seem to be wary of the people around them. Normally, drow people who are open about who they are in this way in public are seen as a disgrace, disrespectful, and even in some parts of town could be beat up in the street with no one willing to intervene on their behalf. Yet, here, they don't seem to be concerned with any of that.
As you all walk through the camp, Vazidra Naerth is greeted by many other people in this camp, drow people, who seem to be living, while in rather unfavorable conditions, happily. She walks up a couple of steps to the door of this monastery and before she can even open the door, it swings wide. You hear Vazidra Naerth chirp a greeting to the person standing in the entrance, a quick, "G'morrow, Lady Springdew."
A tall drow woman, dressed in all white, opens the door and quickly ushers you in, shutting it behind you. "Good morrow, Vazidra, Avbin. Is this everyone?" And as you enter, I would like for you all to take a wisdom saving throw.
DC15 OR BE SUBJECT TO CALM EMOTIONS: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Calm%20Emotions#content
As the two chatter back in forth, the rest of you are awe-struck by the interior of this monastery. Inside, is a grand building, filled with drow people. You can see through intricate glass and balconies of the upper floors, and above you you see drow people doing all sorts of things. You see some people fighting, you see some sort of cooking class, except it's not with traditional ingredients but moreover scavenged mushrooms and herbs, and you see a myriad of other things, and you even see some calmer, less active folks. You see elder drow people telling young children stories, some just sitting by the fire and talking. And when I say that they're by the fire, I mean that they're by the walls because the interior of this entire building is alight. Not alight as in actively burning down, and in fact, there isn't any smoke or heat, really. The people inside this monastery aren't phased by it. And you come to realize that it's not the walls themselves that are alight, but vines and plant matter that is growing up sides of this building, curling around bookshelves, weapons racks, and other odds and ends inside this center of learning. And this plant matter, it burns without burning. You can see that it is alight, but also that it is not shriveling, or even producing embers or ash.
DC10 ARCANA - plants cause spell
DC17 WISDOM - know history/story of plant
DC15 NATURE - know what the plant is