The Party's First Outing

Posted on Wed Dec 20th, 2023 @ 2:46pm by Dungeon Master God-Emperor Taral & Priest (Level 2) Alden Mourningstar & Priest (Level 2) Leslie Aryz

Mission: We're Forming A Party
Location: Outskirts of Fairfell
Timeline: First light, the morning after "Quest Given"

The newly formed party of three wakes after two sharp knocks on the bedroom door by Tavern Keeper Brewbeard.

Unfortunately, it was instantly cut to two, as Jaylene Morenas received an urgent summons from her order. All adventuring had to be set aside. With sincere apologies, she was off on her own, leaving Leslie Aryz and Alden Mourningstar to prepare for the journey ahead.

What they knew:
-Food had gone missing from barrels, first outside the town walls, but then within the town too
-Claw marks on the town walls and buildings and near where the stolen barrels had been
-One person was missing after harvesting too far afield
-The townsfolk are afraid to be outside the walls past dark

A note had been left with Mr. Brewbeard, which he passed to the party as they came downstairs. There had been another raid overnight, again just inside the town walls. The note had directions on how to get there. The barman gave the three each some bread for the road and they set off.

The crime scene was close by, next to a house which was build adjacent to the Wall. They reached it on foot in minutes. The Town Guard permitted the party access, having been told they were there to solve this problem.

As they approached the house, a gust of wind blew and dislodged some sap that was dripping from a nearby tree. Leslie walked right through it, getting a faceful of tree sap drizzled all across her face and catching one eye closed. "Ah! Getitoff getitoff!" She cried, trying to open that one eye and not being able to, scrabbling at her face without realizing her clothes had sap on them as well.

Alden got a sense of what had happened. There was evidence that someone, or rather something, was here. There had clearly been four or five barrels full of fruit, but there were remnants of only one. And there were traces of hoof scratches. Something else had been taken, like a goat or small cow. And scratches leading toward the town wall -- and up it.

Leslie, meanwhile, was distracted. Because through the window, she saw only one thing: a crest of devotion to Tiamat, in many ways the opposite deity of her own Bahamut. The house was apparently one housing a Tiamat supporter. One who would display such open blasphemy to those who would try to help as well. How sick.

As she cleared at least her eyes from the sap, Leslie’s rage grew at the sight. Tiamat. There were several of the holy texts that detailed the depravations and evils that the Dragon Bitch had done through her storied existence. Her fists clenched as she surged forward towards the house, “Tiamat-lovingasssholes deserve what’s coming to them!” She growled out.

"Whoa!" Alden grabbed Leslie by the shoulder, not strongly but enough to prevent her from instantly running off. "Come on, Monk. Save it for the quest. You can't earn gold for your tribute if the town watch locks you up."

It did stop her long enough and turned her so she couldn’t go steamrolling through the door and she looked at Alden, “The Ascendant Dragon opposes Tiamat at all levels! She’s evil, destructive and and and..” She finally sighed, though her fists tightened even more before relaxing a bit, “And we were hired for a quest and yes, once one of the Order accepts a quest, unless it’s in service to Tiamat herself or one of her minions, it does take priority.”

"Good," Alden said. "There are marks that lead over the wall. Let's go follow it." He took a scoop of the sap on Leslie's face with his index finger. "I think this is Love Ash. Harmless but it will stain your clothes, so we'll stop at a stream or something to clean you off."

Leslie changed course towards the wall, always being the hard charging type until the words sank in and she stopped dead in her tracks and plucked her shirt away from her body to look at it, "Tiamat's Scaly Tits! It's going to STAIN? Where's the stream, where's the stream, we have to get there now!"

Hearing her urgency, Alden led the way to the nearest gate at a run. They could rejoin the trail on the other side. He didn't know exactly where the stream would be but this was a farm and orchard town. There would be either a stream or an irrigation channel or something.

Moments later, they were outside the walls. There was still a trail, which happened to run parallel to an irrigation duct, full of what appeared to be clear, clean, flowing water. "Here."

Leslie mumbled something in Draconic as she stripped off first the cloak and then her tunic, leaving her upper body only in her lacy undergarments. She bent down to the stream and looked at it carefully before finally dipping the shirt into the water first and scrubbing the fabric together to try to get the sap out, "Freaking sap and stuff... Doesn't it know that you can't look good being covered with it? Inconsiderate tree..." She held the shirt up after a couple minutes and gave it a good look. It wasn't perfect, but it would take a close look to know that it wasn't. She shimmied it on, ignoring the chill that came with the wet fabric, then got to work on the cloak.

"Need help?" Alden asked, looking away to give her a bit of privacy. "If not, I'll examine the trail."

"Why, don't like what you see?" Leslie snarked, not bothering to turn around from washing her cloak in the stream. It was apparent that she was ambivalent to whether someone saw her clothed or not, because if they pissed her off, they'd meet her fist. "But go ahead and check it out, if you don't come back, I'll be behind you in just a couple minutes and I'll catch up. Dammit, don't they know what this fabric is made out of? The Abbott would KILL me if he saw what it looked like right now!"

Alden stepped away from the duct and looked for the trail. It took him a few moments, but he found the subtle marks of claws along the wall, roughly in the spot that aligned with where the house was on the other side. A hundred feet or so away was a tree line, and it looked like maybe the trail led into a trail within the woods.

"Leslie!" he called down. "It goes this way!" He pointed toward the trees. "Meet me near the tree line when you're done!"

"Right, I'll be there shortly!" She called out behind her, scrubbing furiously. She held it up in front of her, but it was still visible, so back into the running water and even more scrubbing.

The Druid headed toward the tree line, following what looked like a few types of clawed feet. There must have been some diversity of creatures that had been attacking the town.

He followed one set just a few feet into the trees...

...where he stumbled upon a pair of very hungry Giant Lizards.

"Leslie!" he called out.

Within seconds, the two lizards got close, but despite their best efforts he managed to avoid getting bitten. Alden reacted instinctively and tried to spray one with poison, but the beast seemed to close off its nostrils.

It had finally passed her perusal when she heard her name being called out. She haphazardly threw her cloak on over her still-wet shirt and cursed how restrictive it was when it was wet. It slowed her down as she dashed towards where Alden's voice had come from. As she entered visual range, she came skidding to a stop and saw the lizards. It was a fight and something she could use to get her anger out. "Oh yes, looking forward to this."

The first lizard lunged at Alden, but missed. The second redirected its attention to Leslie but its teeth also found naught but air.

The druid finally got his scimitar to hand and swung for the first lizard's face. It scored a clean hit, slashing a shallow wound across its face.

Leslie managed to get out of the way of the bite from the lizard that attacked her, then lashed out with a hard fist, following it up with a side kick. Both hit the lizard on the head, but the tough skin of the lizard felt hard against her hand and then foot.

The lizards were hurt but not deterred. The first went for Alden and managed to clamp onto his arm. The Druid pulled away but was not uninjured.

The second caught Leslie at her exposed calf, biting down hard, but releasing her, getting ready for another attack.

Alden had to try a new tactic. He went back to tried and true Poison Spray. He managed to get a good shot right as the Giant Lizard opened its mouth for a snarl. The creature inhaled deeply and took the full brunt of the poison gas that had been shot from Alden’s hand. It sputtered and coughed before turning around and fleeing, leaving its partner behind.

Focused on her opponent, Leslie had yelped from the pain of the bite and felt some of her life force ebbing away, but remained undeterred. The Monks of her order knew that death came for them at some point, but it was how you died that mattered. She came in for another attack flurry, striking twice with her fists, hitting the snout and behind where an ear was supposed to be.

The surviving lizard was injured, but still had some fight left in it. It bit hard at Leslie’s midsection, cracking a rib and knocking the air out of her.

With a shriek, Leslie was thrown as the lizard tossed it's head and she went tumbling as wet cloth ripped. "Healing hands." She pressed her hand against her ribs before she came rolling to a stop, hoping that her last ditch effort would save her life.

The Druid leaped to the rescue and came down hard with his scimitar. The creature did not see it coming, nor did it have time to process its own demise as its head came away from its body.

“Shit,” he said as he ran to his party member’s side. “Are you alright?”

Leslie lay in a heap, fading in and out of consciousness, which she knew was most definitely not a good sign. Out of the corners of her vision, she saw black flames, like those breathed by Tiamat herself and that made her will coalesce into nearly complete being. She rolled onto her back slowly as she lay there, "Ow." She said, meaning it, "Am I alright? I think I'm alive and I'm going to take that as a good sign." She felt a breeze across here stomach, so she knew her tunic and cloak were going to need mending, not knowing that there were major multiple tears in both and that there was about as much hole as cloth covering her.

Alden tried not to let his eyes wander as he checked her for injuries. “Your magic seems to have stopped the worst of your injuries,” he observed. “No bleeding or obvious horrible bruising to your body. Your calf is in rough shape though. Let’s rest for a bit.” He wrapped some of the scrap of her tunic around a major cut on her leg as tightly as he could.

"Can we afford to?" Leslie asked, still on the flat of her back, not wanting to get up yet in any case. "All that training, and a lizard is what nearly kills me." She shook her head back and forth, wincing in pain as she only breathed, "That would be an embarrassing way to die." She raised her head and glanced down her body and grimaced, grabbing her cloak and tugging it out to at least cover the important parts, feeling the holes in it as well, "I'm going to die. If any of the Order see this cloak, I'm going to die."

She kept referring to the damaged tunic and cloak, so he kept looking, but only when she was looking away.

“I think we can afford to take an hour,” Alden said. “Take a breather. Focus ourselves.” He said down on a log, closed his eyes, and started to breathe in a controlled way as he let himself connect to nature.

“An hour.” Leslie agreed, letting him assume the role of party leader. It was better that way. She laid out in the sun, letting it soak into her skin as she retreated into her own mind. Dragons drank in the heat, let it infuse them with its strength. Fire never harmed a dragon, the sun was fire in its purest form.

An hour later, having found the correct trail, they set off in search of the violent food thieves.


END


OOC: Roll Checks

Perception check at the crime scene:
Alden: 10 + 5 = 15
Leslie: Natural 1


Opposed check: Alden's Persuasion vs Leslie's straight Wisdom:
Alden: 16 + 3 = 19
Leslie: 11+2 = 13


Nature check: Alden looks at the sap on Leslie:
16 + 2 = 18

Perception Check: Leslie tries to determine whether the water is actually clean:
16+2 = 18

Survival Check: Alden tries to identify the direction of the trail:
Natural 1

Initiative:
Giant Lizard 1: Natural 20
Giant Lizard 2: 18 + 1 = 19
Alden: 12 + 2 = 14
Leslie: 5 + 2 = 7 (also misses Round 1)

Giant Lizard 1 Bite Attack:
3 + 4 = 7, Miss

Giant Lizard 2 Bite Attack:
4 + 4 = 8, Miss

Giant Lizard 1 CON Saving Throw to avoid Alden's Poison Spray:
Natural 20, Success

Giant Lizard 1 Bite Attack:
5 + 4 = 9, Miss

Giant Lizard 2 Bite Attack:
7 + 4 = 11, Miss

Alden attacks Lizard 1 with his Scimtar:
14 + 4 = 18, Hit
2 + 2 = 4 damage

Leslie attacks Lizard 2 with unarmed strike
16 + 4 = 20, Hit
1 + 2 = 3 damage

Leslie Attacks Lizard 2 with bonus action: unarmed strike
16 + 4 = 20, Hit
1 + 2 = 3 damage

Giant Lizard 1 Bite Attack against Alden:
10 + 4 = 14, Hit
2 + 2 = 4 damage

Giant Lizard 2 Bite Attack against Leslie:
12 + 4 = 16, Hit
2 + 2 = 4 damage

Giant Lizard 1 CON saving throw to avoid Poison Spray:
Natural 1, Fail
10 damage
Creature withdraws

Leslie Attacks Lizard 2 with unarmed strike:
13 + 4 = 17, Hit
2 + 2 = 4 damage

Leslie Attacks Lizard 2 with bonus action: unarmed strike:
15 + 4 = 19, Hit
2 + 2 = 4 damage

Giant Lizard 2 Bite Attack (with Disadvantage against Leslie:
14 (having rejected 18) + 4 = 18, Hit
2 + 2 = 4 damage
Leslie would be unconscious, but uses Healing Hands as a reaction to stay at 1HP!

Alden attacks Lizard 2 with his Scimtar:
13 (having rejected 8) + 4 = 17, Hit
5 + 2 = 7 damage
Creature is dead

Roll for damage to Leslie's clothing having failed Attack (18) vs AC (12) 5 point threshold
1d20= 6 . Major tearing

Medicine check to see if Alden can help Leslie:
10 + 3 = 13

Opposed Check: Alden Stealth check vs Leslie Perception check:
Alden: 15 + 2 = 17
Leslie: 6 + 2 = 8
Leslie does not notice Alden checking her out

Short Rest: Healing:
Alden: 8
Leslie: 4

Current HP:
Alden: 8/8
Leslie: 5/8