[Other] Halforums Heist

(I'm assuming that Ty isn't going to bolt across the tavern to assassinate the last guy. Feel free to do a non-combat post at any time for Ty, @Vrii )

The last ruffian looks around at Ran, Brad, Charity, and Marten and lowers his hands. Just then, Yagra rushes at him, pummeling him twice with a jab and a cross. The jab misses but the cross lands, knocking the ruffian out. He slumps to the floor with the rest of them. The large half-orc woman glowers down at the ruffians and spits on the floor with a sneer.

Shouts of alarm suddenly ring out as a hulking creature climbs up out of the shaft in the middle of the taproom — a monster with warty green skin, a tangled nest of wiry black hair, a long, carrot-shaped nose, and bloodshot eyes. As it bares its yellow teeth and howls, you can see that a half-dozen bat-like creatures are attached to its body, with five more circling above it like flies. Everyone in the tavern reacts in fear except for the barkeep, Durnan, who shouts, “Troll!”

New initiative order!

Brad
The Troll and Stirges
Durnan

Everyone else
Yagra

Yawning Portal Battle Map (5).png


Brad is up!
 
Seeing the troll Brad wishes he had picked a different bar. He doesn't recognize the bat-things but reaches into his boot unsheathing a dagger and throws it towards the nearest one.

Brad's dagger flies straight at the creature and hits it in the head. (Crit for 4 DMG).
 
The dagger bursts through the stirge and it falls to the ground with a splat.

The troll darts across towards Durnan with such speed and ferocity that it causes many patrons to gasp. The troll strikes Durnan twice, drawing blood and a stern look from the former adventurer.

Meanwhile, the blood-sucking stirges descend on patrons, who begin fleeing in a panic. Two patrons are brought down by stirges. Another one attacks Erythro and a fourth attacks Ty. Erythro is too slow to avoid the hit and it latches on to the wizard (5 damage). Ty manages to duck as the stirge swoops at him

Durnan swivels and pulls a lethal looking sword off of the wall. He whirls immediately on the troll, striking at the beast with a speed unmatched in the tavern. Four slashes blur past the monster and it is left with 2 large cuts across its chest.

Yawning Portal Battle Map (6).png


(Everyone but Brad is up!)
 
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Ty shakes his head as the fight descends into bloodshed; if he'd seen that coming, he might have joined in from the outset. He thinks about it briefly, smiles, decides that he probably still wouldn't have felt the need to participate in a brawl. He is turning to excuse himself from the conversation, intending to order a round for the victors (why not take advantage of circumstances to make some new friends?) when the new shapes emerge from the well, one of the bat-creatures flying towards him.

Reacting on instinct, he ducks under its attacks and draws his rapier, thrusting at the creature swooping around his head.

(17 to hit, 9 for damage)
 
Well, I was going to make some noble and dramatic scene about how we shouldn't be killing these young punks, and rushed to stabilize the one stabbed ruffian. But, you know, that poor bastard's on his own now.

Is there a reason one of the stirges is marked in black?

I have this feeling the fight just went way above my pay grade. If my Pythagorean math is right, Erythro's 75 feet from me and out of range of my Sacred Flame, so...

Of the two stirges closest to my group, if either one is attached to a patron, I'll attack that one. If neither are, I'll attack a random one as they're both about the same distance away. Sacred Flame cantrip, 8 dmg if the stirge doesn't dodge.

Marten spins at the sound of the commotion, eyes widening at the horrors coming up from the ground. "Mebbe this is why Lathandar saw fit to put me here today," he muses to himself, his heart quickening. Offering a quick prayer to his god, he releases the divine power he has been granted.
 
A foul blood sucking monstrosity latches itself to the woman in red. A brief moment of shock flashes across her face but quickly passes. Calmly she strides over to the sword wielding man near the main doors.

A deft flick of the wrist removes the foul beast from her body, "Here, you deal with this while I take care of that." And casually points towards the troll.

This followed by a furious scampering as the small sheep barrels over to meet her.

move action walk to Ty standard action to remove the Stirge, double move by sheep to arrive next to me. Giving the stirge 3 targets next turn.

Has my passive perception (17) noticed any flammable liquid like torch or lamp oil or spirits that we could burn the troll with? If yes, I will call out instructions on where I saw it to the bar and encourage the others to dose the troll in it.
 
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Ran rushes over to the nearest Stirge. Since he won't make it in time before the Stirge attacks another patron, Ran grabs one of his darts from his belt and throws it at the monster.

[Rolled a 6. #Classic Ran]

The dart sails smoothly and cleanly right over the top of the stirge.

"Are you even on our side?" Yells an angry patron who's ale is now leaking.
 
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Charity

Watching the monsters emerge, Charity's eyes grow wide. "Great Mother, give me strength," she murmurs in a quiet prayer as she places her hands on her chest, a soft glow suffusing the palm for a moment as some of her wounds close. Striding forward through the tavern, the young woman takes out a short, narrow javelin from underneath her sword and tosses it in her grip, before taking a few more strides and throwing it across the tavern with excellent form at one of the menacing flying creatures.

Using full Lay on Hands pool to heal myself for 5, back up to 10. Drawing one of my javelins and walking forward 30 ft across the top, then throwing it at the nearest Stirge. If all Stirges are down already, then at the troll, since I can't quite tell which stirges are dead. 18 for attack, 5 for damage.
 
Everyone leaps into action as patrons scatter. Ty skewers a stirge, causing a bloody mess. Marten summons a heavenly bolt of flame that rescues a patron, now unconscious on the floor. Charity makes a running throw with her javelin that pins a now-dead stirge to the floor, also rescuing an unconscious patron. Erythro....struggles to remove the stirge that has affixed itself to his middle back. Still, he ignores the beast for a precious moment and spies several lamps that are unlit around the well as well as some hard liquor just across the bar.

Yagra snaps out of her intense focus on the ruffians and sees the troll attacking her favorite tavern. She charges across the taproom over dead bodies, drawing her weapon as she goes.

(Brad is up! One stirge remains, attached to Erythro still.)
 
Brad yells at the stirge, "Hey you stupid stirge! You're the worst of your lineage! Your mother should be embarrassed by your awfulness." blows a raspberry and casts vicious mockery at the beast. (13 wisdom save 3 dmg)
 
The remaining stirge falls into a deep melancholy unlike any that a stirge has ever known. The little blood-sucker detaches from Erythro's back and hiss-bleats mournfully. It drops to the ground, probably questioning its place in the universe, and vomits up its bloody meal before giving in to its ennui and dying.

The troll is oblivious to all of this and thrashes angrily at Durnan, followed by a vicious looking bite. The first swipe misses but Durnan cannot avoid the second, which rakes across his side evoking a painful cry. The troll's bite lands as well, drawing blood from the old fighter's shoulder.

With gritted teeth, he thrusts the blade into the belly of the troll, which screams, releasing the tavern owner. Durnan steps back and then lunges forward again with three rapid strikes, each landing in vital spots. The troll falls to the ground, bleeding profusely and breathing shallowly. Its wounds are already beginning to close.

"Fire! Acid!" Durnan says, grabbing a bar rag and wiping his bloody brow. "Quick! We need to put it down for good."

(Everyone but Brad is up!)
 
The remaining stirge falls into a deep melancholy unlike any that a stirge has ever known. The little blood-sucker detaches from Erythro's back and hiss-bleats mournfully. It drops to the ground, probably questioning its place in the universe, and vomits up its bloody meal before giving in to its ennui and dying.
That shit's hilarious, yo :D

I got no fire.
1581473688430.png

All of my spells are "radiant" damage :(

I'll take a dash action, while grabbing my tinderbox. I have enough move to get all the way to the troll, but I'll stop with a 5 foot space between us. If he's able to get up, I'd rather him focus on Durnan instead of one-shotting me to Lathander's kingdom. Should still have my cantrips up for a couple more rounds, at least.

The map shows a fire pit/fireplace. Is it lit?

Marten dashes across the bar, fumbling with his equipment as he does so. He screams, his voice still booming unnaturally loud, "Liquor! Douse it in liquor! Use the good stuff!"
 
The fireplace is lit, yes, but mainly has hot coals in it at the moment rather than a raging fire.

(Ty, Charity, Erythro, and Ran are all up.)
 
The woman in read, glides across the room with an authority known only to entitled nobility until she stands next to the slumpen green giant. A scowl crosses her face, then a rage fills her eyes. Fire begins to dance around her hair, her body begins to glow as flames well up between her palms. With a cry she spikes a mote of fire down into the giant!

"FEUERBOLZEN WERFEN!"

move action walk to troll, cast fire bolt on the downed target, attack roll of 20 vs AC, auto crit if a hit dealing 4 points of damage
 
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Ran gets as close to the bar as he can. The troll and the bar block his path to anything that could be used as a fuel. He reaches out with his mind and a ghostly hand appears before a bottle of top shelf liquor. It grabs the bottle and slowly but surely hovers over the troll as high as it can go. With a snap, Ran commands the bottle to be thrown down onto the beast.

[Cast Mage Hand and try to break the bottle by dropping it on the troll. Not sure what I might need to roll for that]
 
Erythro's bolt of flame is not especially impressive to him but to those watching, it is impressive enough as the troll quietly lights with a "foomf" and burns with a sickly sweet smell.

Durnan relaxes as a healer comes over to attend to his wounds. He barks out a laugh at the blood and gore strewn around his tavern. "Packle! Grab the shovel!"

Someone calls out, "Already on it, boss!"

"Bonnie!"

"Pouring drinks now!" she says from behind the bar.

"If you are in the bar right now," Durnan says, looking around the room, "Your next drink is on me."

Everyone can see this won't set Durnan back much. Nevertheless, the injured are tended to (and then promptly ejected in the case of the ruffians). Seats and replaced and glass and bloody sawdust swept up. Within a few minutes, the tavern looks as if nothing happened.

Durnan pays no further mind to those who leaped in to help, getting back to running his business and cleaning his sword. But the middle-aged man who watched them continues to pay them heed. He does his best to gather them at a freshly cleaned table, buying them a drink and the promise of a job.

"You be adventurers, right?" he says as he greets them collectively.

The figure who approached you strokes his mustache, adjusts his floppy hat, and tightens his scarf. “Volothamp Geddarm, chronicler, wizard, and celebrity, at your service. I trust you’ve noted the violence in our fair city these past tendays. I haven’t seen so much blood since my last visit to Baldur’s Gate! But now I fear I have misplaced a friend amid this odious malevolence.

“My friend’s name is Floon Blagmaar. He’s got more beauty than brains, and I worry he took a bad way home a couple nights ago and was kidnapped — or worse. If you agree to track him down with all due haste, I can offer you ten dragons apiece now, and I can give you each ten times that when you find Floon. May I prevail upon you in my hour of need?”

Volothamp Geddarm is known to most Waterdavians as a braggart and a notorious embellisher of facts. For all his faults, though, Volo is also known as a soft-hearted sort who cares for nothing as much as his friends.
 
Marten looks around at the assembled crew suspiciously. He hangs back, though the promise of free drinks keeps him in place for the moment. He seems to be wrestling with his conscience before coming to some decision.

"Money don' mean much ta meh," he says. "But if yer friend is in trouble, I will help. 'Sides..tha gold will fill many bellies at the soup kitchens and orphanages. I will do my best to help, though I nae be an adventurer--only a humble cleric of Lathander."
 
Ran looks about in disbelief.

"Wait so...so it's all done?"

Before he can comprehend what happened, he already had a beer and his missing dart back.

"Guess so!"

Ran listens to Volothamp and his story. If this jamoke is promising 10 gold for the each of us we'll be lucky to get 5. Still though, that would be 5 more than he had before. Plus he really felt the need to redeem himself after essentially doing nothing except taking a silent vow to never eat lamb chops again.

"Alright, guess I'm in. Where abouts was the last place you knew your friend was?"
 
The woman clad in red smiles at Volo, a familiar smile shared among the ne'er do well of the city. Then speaking in a familiar masculine voice towards the worrisome wizard.

"So Volo, two years of wages just locate your friend? That's a ridiculous amount. Is there something you're not telling us? No, let me guess...he's wasn't mugged and left for dead in the street, you would have already heard that. And you wouldn't been offering such a large sum if he was not important to you. Important to your immediate needs or you personally. And you wouldn't know he's missing if you were not expecting him shortly or seen him recently. You mention he took a bad way home a couple of nights ago, am I correct in surmising you are the reason he took this bad way home and now feel an overwhelming guilt at his loss? No don't bother to answer, the sheer fact that you haven't noticed a sheep eating your coat suggests I'm right. Have no fear though, you knew the moment I walked into the bar I would find your friend for you didn't you?"

And as the woman in red monologues at the concerned chronicler, the image of her slowly fades to reveal a slender well dressed red haired man as a sheep nibbles on the coat of his companion.

"Now then, let us dispense with this monetary nonsense. I'll find Floon for no less than six rumours, three of which must be true."

 
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Brad wipes the blood off of his nose and downs his beer. "I'm in for whatever will get me out of town for a bit. I'm sure that poor bloke and his friends will be looking for me now, and I don't think I could handle all of them at once."
 
Charity

Charity helps where she can with the clean-up, though it becomes quickly apparent that she is not needed. Retrieving her javelin, she is about to tend to her drink again when the strange man calls them over. The young woman listens to his plea with genuine interest, and when it is her turn to put forth her answer, she does so with a compassionate smile. "I don't know if I am an adventurer, mister Geddarm, but it is my calling to help those in need. Chauntea herself has bestowed her power upon me to do so, so I cannot rightly say no." Upon the matter of price, she has nothing to say, though she adds: "Do you have any idea who might wish your friend harm? Somebody who he owes money, perhaps? It is usually a question of gold or greed when evil is afoot, in my experience."
 
Volo clasps his hands together with a well-practiced smile as almost everyone seems inclined to help. To Erythro he says, "Well, money I can provide. I am not without some success in that regard. While I am happy enough to provide rumors instead, or even in addition, I'm not sure I can guarantee whether they are true or false, as they are just rumors, my good wizard."

The noted writer and, frankly, adventurer in his own peculiar way, retrieves a purse jangling with gold pieces. He dispenses 10 gold to the six before him as he continues his tale. "Floon is a handsome man, a human, in his early thirties with wavy red-blond hair. He was dressed in princely garb when I last saw him. Two nights ago, before Floon disappeared, Floon and I were drinking and merrymaking at the Skewered Dragon, a dark, and, I'll be honest, bawdy tavern in the Dock Ward. I recommend that you start your search there. I left before my dear friend did that night. My fear is that he was accosted on his route home. Please, bring him back to us alive."
 
Ty scoops up his coins quickly, dropping them into his pouch. He hadn't expected to be making money through honest work when he came out tonight, but gold is gold and it sounds like this investigation plays into his skillset nicely.

He casts a well-practiced charming grin around the table. "If any of you truly don't want the coin, I'd be happy to take on your share as well?"
 
"It's been a long day already," Marten says, scooping up his coin and downing his free ale. "Suggest we meet at the Skewered Dragon for lunch tomorrow to get started. If'n he was as drunk and as dressed as fine as this man says," he says, jerking his thumb toward Volo, "he pro'ly got mugged on his way home."

Looking pityingly at Volo, he continues. "Sorry, but yer fren is pro'ly lyin' cold in an alley."
 
Erythro smiles at Volo and pushes his coins back to him, "Keep your coins friend, I find your lost companion just for the exercise. Come friends if we hurry we can make it there in a matter of minutes. Come sheep." And with that the slender man stands up and walks over to Yagra followed by his sheep. "My darling what are your plans for the next few nights?"

insight check on Volo about his finances = 17

going to ask Yagra if she would agree to tag along for a price
 
Yeah, I'm assuming that as well, but there's a pretty big difference between say, 6 and 9 in terms of going to investigate tonight or leaving it until tomorrow.
 
OOC I think we will be fine. It feels like we get to RP for a while, combing the streets and such cultivating leads. Maybe get arrested or jumped by thugs in an alley.
 
(It is about 7:30 in the evening and you can at least have a short rest, if that helps, before heading out.)

Erythro:

The wizard studies the famous writer carefully but cannot see past the man's excitement to have a group of people looking for his friend.
 
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