Dungeons & Dragons 2.0 (Active RP topic)

The Magic Tuba Pixie wrote:*amirite, Muffy? Or do you determine when we regain health?

[That's fine. I'm not keeping track of hit points or anything silly like that, so I certainly don't mind if more minor injuries are left up to your better judgment. Clearly, there's a limit to this leniency. Obviously if you have a broken arm then you're going to be nursing that wound for quite a while (if your character happened to be a warrior you might even have to sit out of the RP for a while to recover!), but something as minor as the injuries sustained by Shade will heal rather quickly and can be left to the player, especially when magical healing is involved.

@Wilbur: Actually, Half-Elves and Halflings are different races. A Halfling is the same thing (more or less I suppose) as a Hobbit from LotR, with no Elf blood involved whatsoever. This is the thing I'd normally let go without saying anything, but when you're talking about how your character wants to kill Dwellervorn (a Halfling, not a Half-Elf) because he's some kind of unnatural abomination...well, that's some unnecessary hatred right there! ]

"Would anyone be interested in some roasted fish?"

Alys smiled inwardly. She was definately wrong in first judgements of this group.

"Some nourishment would be most welcome, thank you." She told the Dragonborn.

"The prisoner would like some roasted fish!" chirped Dwellervorn rather contemptuously from where he was sitting. Although he had been freed, he certainly didn't feel waves of happiness coming from the group around him. They didn't in fact seem to be doing much at all. A more friendly individual approached him, introducing himself as he did.
"Hello. My name is Shade Rowlandson. I am a necromancer, travelling with this group. We were recently attacked by a band of kobolds, so you'll have to excuse us if we are a little wary of newcomers. What is your name?"
"Wary indeed! I feel as if I have fallen from one trap and into another. I am Dwellervorn, rogue extraordinaire. I was scouting the kobold lair when I was captured by the nasty little critters .. no doubt your timely intervention saved my hide, and for that I am certainly grateful. My information on the kobolds does not seem to interest your group, though. Tell me, what is it that you seek in this forest, if not to exterminate those foul beasts?"

"Actually, you're right in your theory. Our journey has to do with disemboweling the little critters who took you hostage." Azul sat before the rogue while he munched on a piece of fish from Athuk. The conjurer seemed completely oblivious to the halfling's hunger as he watched the blue-clad wizard dine on his meal.

"Perhaps you should tell us what you were doing sneaking around a kobold's lair. Certainly they must have something shiny to attract one of your caliber." Azul tore off a piece of his fish and held it our in front of the halfling who was unable to grab the delectable morsel due to being tied to the tree trunk. "We're not enemies, I'm just trying to figure out if we can trust each other."

After having handed a fish to both Azul and Alys, he picked one of the two remaining carefully up by the tail and lifted it from the fire, before walking over to the newcomer and placing it in his hungry hands.

"Here. Enjoy it, I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch or cook more food for a while, this place seems rather hostile."

As he walked back to the campfire, Athuk was thinking that he could get used to the rogue. He still didn't trust him though, but he didn't really trust anyone before he'd witnessed them fight alongside him.


((Last fish, any takers?))

(Thanks for the correction Muffo. Hobbit certainly is a much more familiar term for me. I just thought that because of Merc's sig picture and the term halfling used to describe Dwellervorn that he was a half-elf.)

Anyway, Sandor continued watching the party from his perch in the canopy. His mind had finally been made up. The party had nearly been destroyed by the kobolds and Sandor hardly believed they would be luckier the second time around. If they ran into trouble, he would assist them from the canopy and join them in the midst of battle to see their journey through. If they didn't require aid, he would wait until the kobolds had been exterminated to introduce himself. While his newfound planned floated calmly through his head, the smell of fish from below made his stomach growl. All he had had to eat in a while was the elven bread in his pack. However, he had gone longer without much sustainment and held his iron-plated composure.

The charismatic nature of Dwellervorn inevitably enables him to talk his way out of his predicament and out of his bonds. The party frees him and together they finish the remainder of Athuk's fish around a campfire. The next few hours pass uneventfully, and during the much appreciated downtime the party manages to work out an agreement with their new companion. The Halfling makes a deal to travel with the party and lead them to the location of the kobold lair the following morning.

As the party members lay out their bedrolls to go to sleep, the most adept at listening can detect a buzzing noise coming from the surrounding forest. Gerhild and Alysa both hear it, though everyone else appears oblivious to the alarmed expressions that have grown on their faces. Everyone else continues to prepare to go to sleep, though the women of the wilderness both reach for their weapons. Meanwhile, still watching from atop the branch of a nearby tree, Sandor becomes aware of the buzzing as well.

Suddenly a swarm of shadowy, winged creatures emerge from the trees, still partially concealed by the darkness of the night. The party members, surprised by the sudden attack, are sent scrambling for their weapons as the beasts swoop by on leathery, bat-like wings. In the dim light provided by the fire as the attackers come close, the creatures are revealed.


Both Alysa and Sandor as well as Gerhild recognize the creatures from their travels as stirges, bat-like insectoid creatures that use their long proboscises to pierce victims' flesh and drain their blood. They are the size of small birds with a wingspan of about two feet and appear as little more than irritating pests, but few understand the true danger they present. The attacking swarm consists of seven of the deadly critters.

Two of the stirges swoop in to swarm Dwellervorn, and though he is able to fend off the first of the two it is the second that manages to stab its proboscis through his thin armor. The creature stabs into the back of his shoulder and latches on with its hook-like claws, holding fast as it begins to feed. The Halfling flails about wildly as he attempts to remove it, hardly able to even reach the monster. Another two attack Athuk, but find themselves unable to find a suitable gap in his thick metal armor.

A stirge flies towards Gerhild, but the Dwarf was already prepared for battle and manages to keep the monster away by wildly swinging her war pick in the air, though she fails to score a hit. She turns to take a swing at another creature going after Gurry, and this time succeeds with her attack. The flying pest is hit in midair and sliced cleanly into two halves, shrieking briefly before being silenced. Shade finds himself pursued by one of the monsters when two arrows whiz through the air nearby, fired by Alysa. While one of the projectiles goes a little bit high the other manages to land in the stirge's bloated body with a crunch. It cries out but does not die, instead flying upward and disappearing amongst the trees.

[Battle number two! Fun fact: I've actually never used stirges for anything before (IRL campaigns, forum RPs, nothing), so this is a little bit new for me. I've always passed them by as kind of a silly monster, but in a way they're a D&D icon and I thought should be included in something. Good luck to y'all.]

Athuk, being ancient for human standards had traveled the lands quite a bit before joining the current party and yet this wood had been throwing more at him at any given time then any other place he'd been in. The place must've been completely infested with abominations of all sorts.

As the two insectoid monsters circle around the dragonborn, he quickly equips his ever-present shield and pulls his sword and in the same movement, takes a swing at the two independently with each of his weapons, planning to slice the one in half and swat the other one out of the air, maybe crush and rip him apart with the shield's spikes in the process.

Azul had been asleep near the edge of the clearing when the attack came, and as such was able to quickly take cover in the trees when he noticed that the rest of the party seemed nervous.

The conjurer watched as the creature who resembled massive mosquitos attacked the party. "Wow, these monsters suck." Azul remarked sarcastically. "Get it Staff? They're mosquitos and they...never mind. My wit is wasted on you."

With a twirl of his staff Azul attempted to summon Virgil the hawk once more to defeat the flying creatures.

Shade cried something unintelligible as the stirges bore down on him. He backpedaled a bit, swinging his staff defensively. He tried to scream a thanks to Alysa as the stirge she hit flew away, but he was busy with the other. The necromancer swung his staff at the creature, praying for a hit. If he could immobilize it for long enough, Alysa should be able to get a good hit in ...
Or maybe Shade could kill it outright. That'd be nice, too.

@Muffo: I thought the buzzing noise was gonna be me for a second. Scary!!!
Sandor looks keenly upon the situation. "Perhaps a small change of plans is in order," he says reaching for his bow. He grabs an arrow and, carefully sighting it right down to the tip, launches it at the stirge feeding on Dwellervorn. Immediately after, his hand is on the handle of his hunting dagger, ready to strike in case the stirges attack him in his perch.

[@Hawk: These stirges attacked you in the middle of the night, and as a result you are not yet fully rested and have not had an opportunity to review your spellbook (something one would typically do in the morning). As a result you cannot currently cast any of the spells you've already used (which is all of them), which in a way makes Azul just about useless at the moment. I just thought I should point that out, since this sort of situation is one that I'll likely use rather often in an attempt to kill you guys.

No reply post for now...dead tired.]

As Azul tried to remember the words required to summon Virgil, his mind suddenly drew up a blank and he couldn't remember any of the necessary incantations required to call upon his feathered friend. He began to sweat profusely and curled up in a little ball behind the tree. He was completely useless, what good was a wizard without spells? Now all he could do was sit here and cry.

Dwellervorn screeched in what would otherwise be described as a comical manner, were it not for the blood-sucking mosquito spawn trying to eat his brain through their tiny straw sized mouths. Two of them swarmed him before he could even dodge behind the nearest piece of cover - where, true to form, he could hide for the remainder of the battle - so he was forced to defend himself. Unfortunately for Dwellervorn, he had never been very good at that. As one of the stirges went for his neck he ducked and rolled, by the good graces of whatever god was watching also missing another that was trying to suck his blood from behind. They hovered menacingly perhaps a foot above him as he finished up his roll on his back, grabbing for two of his trusty throwing knives at his belt and letting them fly in a generally upwards direction, hoping to wound or kill at least one of them.

[@Merc: Well, I meant for the thing that stabbed you to be clinging to you, as in it was hanging on with its proboscis in your back while it drained your blood, but that's no big deal...I'll just have you get stabbed again. ]

Athuk steps back and swings his sword downward at one of the stirges, but the flying critter is maneuverable enough in the air to nimbly avoid his attack. Its friend is not so lucky, however, as the Dragonborn swings his shield around and smashes it right in its body, sending the second stirge screeching as it flies to the ground along with a splatter of blood. Not yet slain, the creature sits now on the ground flapping its leathery wings frantically, trying to fly into the air but being entirely unable to. The wings on the left side of its body are crippled; it shouldn't threaten anyone now.

The other stirge, however, has found its opening in Athuk's armor and swoops in for the attack. With a threatening shriek, the stirge shoots forward and stabs its proboscis into the side of the Dragonborn's neck. Athuk is overcome by pain, but he knows that despite this the wound is not all that serious - it could have been much worse. Now his biggest concern is the creature with its claws latched around his throat, its needle-like protrusion sunk into his neck as it drains more and more blood with each passing moment.

Meanwhile, Shade takes a clumsy swing at the nearest stirge with his staff and misses poorly. The creature practically laughs at him as it chirps just before swooping forward and plunging its proboscis into his left side. It is not a serious wound, but Shade is weak enough as it is and certainly will not last long while this thing is attached to him and feeding off his blood.

The last two stirges are both attempting to drain Dwellervorn, and both are surprised by the Halfling's nimbleness and speed. After accomplishing an evasive roll he turns and hurls two throwing knives at his attackers, missing one but nailing the other right between its insectoid eyes. The creature shrieks and falls to the ground, dead. Just before the second stirge swoops down at him, an arrow shoots out from within the trees and whizzes by the creature's body, just barely grazing one of its wings. The stirge is destabilized and turns to survey the area for its unseen attacker, just as a second arrow flies forth and nails its corpse to the nearest tree.

[tl;dr version: Athuk incapacitated one stirge but failed to do anything to the other, allowing it to attach itself to him and start feeding. Shade also failed to harm the stirge attacking him, and so he is now suffering the same fate. Meanwhile, Dwellervorn killed one of the stirges attacking him while Sandor's arrows managed to take out the other one (although as far as Dwellervorn can tell some arrows just flew out of nowhere and killed it).]

A minor wound, like a mosquito, just a bit bigger. Athuk thought as he dropped his sword and watched it sink into the ground a bit before reaching out with his hand and gripping the little bugger tightly, planning to crush it to death before ripping the subsequently lifeless hunk of blood-sucking meat off of his neck.

While working on removing one half of the pest that had attacked him from his body, he saw that it's partner was still alive. Athuk decided to end it's miserable life once and for all as he raised his clawed foot before stomping right down on it with his full weight.

Shade cried out weakly as he tried to dislodge the stirge from his side. It was too close to hit with his staff, so the necromancer resorted to beating it with his bare fists. He could see the world growing dark around him and his hits became less and less violent with each passing heartbeat that only fed the monster.

Cursing loudly, Gurry fumbled for his sword and shield in the darkness as the winged creatures attacked. His boots and hammer forgotten, Gurry barely had time to haul himself upright before the creatures descended on tHe party. He'd never seen the parasites before, but they reminded him of giant mosquitoes. Sword in hand, the dwarf spun just in time to watch Gerhild's warpick smash through one of the insects that had surely been lying towards him. Nodding curtly, Gurry hefted his shield and turned to the fighting. The lizard mannseemed to have things under control, and there was no sign of the funny wizard, but the other wizard seemed to be in trouble. Letting out a warcry, Gurry charged forwards, intent on saving Shade from an untimely demise.

Sandor takes his hand off of his dagger and sights another volley of arrows, this time aiming at the beast latched to the Necromancer. Again, he cautiously puts a hand on the sheath of his dagger, afterwards, just in case. He is beginning to feel concern for the readiness of the party to fight the kobold horde as he looks on in eagerness.

Athuk has little trouble removing the bloodsucking pest from his body, tearing it away from him as its hooked claws scrape across his flesh. He squeezes it until its fragile body bursts, letting out a spray of his own blood as it does so. The Dragonborn is able to casually remove the stirge and its proboscis from his neck, then toss it away and move on to the injured one, which he briefly stomps into paste.

Shade has a bit more trouble with his opponent. His feeble fists seem to do little to harm the stirge, which simply ignores him and continues to go about draining his blood. From across the clearing he spots Gurry the Dwarf running towards him, his sword and shield at the ready. As the Dwarf runs forward to give aid to the necromancer, two arrows shoot out from the treeline and just barely whiz past Shade and the stirge, causing Gurry to slow down a little bit and look for the source.

The Dwarf spots nothing. Shade is still being attacked by the stirge. Without anymore hesitation Gurry unleashes a battle cry and stabs his sword through the stirge, in a way so as not to harm Shade in the process. The sword wound unleashes a river of Shade's blood from the monster, which now hangs limply from the cloth of his robes, its proboscis is still inside of his body but its eyes are lifeless.

[Hooray, no one died! The battle is over now and I'd like to move on to the next day rather soon, but I'll give you guys this opportunity to have your characters rest briefly, patch up wounds, chit-chat, etc. Also, Wilbur, if you want to reveal yourself to the party now might be the time (but only if you want to do that).]

"Well the dwarf noticed," though Sandor, "Can't allow them to wait then." Leaping down from branch to branch, the hardy elf descended to the ground as the battle-weary party looked on. They fell back into battle stances as Sandor landed on the ground and held his hands in the air as a means to indicate no hostility. "I have searched much of the kingdom for you all," he said with an indifferent look on his face, "I wish to join you in your battle against the Kobolds."

Shade was able to murmur a reply of thanks to Gurry just before he collapsed, falling into a deep sleep. He would probably be out for while, until he healed from the numerous wounds he received that day.

Athuk washed his blood, as well as some of the stirge's slime off his hand with a few drops of water from one of his water-bags. Before wiping his foot across a patch of grass to remove the stirge-pulp. He then casuallu turned around, retrieved his sword from the ground and sheathed it to then walk back toward the others. He then sat down on a soft-ish dry patch of grass, crossed his legs and meditated, resting his body while keeping his senses alert.

Azul hopped out of his hiding spot behind the trees and made his way up to the new arrival. He held Staffy up to the stranger's face for a few seconds as though scanning him, and then held out his hand to shake.

"Azul's the name. Tell me, what brings you here? A man of your caliber coming all this way to fight Kobolds alongside us travelers? Something tells me there's more to this story."

"Well, I suppose I can't hide everything," Sandor replied with a slight surprised look on his face. He suddenly remembered something and reached out to shake Azul's hand. Having lived off of nature for so long, he had forgotten even the most basic of gestures of greeting one used in a civilized township. "Very well, then," he said with a sigh, "Here is my story. I have been searching for the lot of you ever since I had an odd vision in my sleep one night. In it, I was told by an angelic figure to search for a band of warriors that included in its ranks a necromancer who wishes to use his powers for good, a conjurer who speaks to his staff, and a dragonborn warrior among others. I do not know why I was tasked with finding you, but I have some lingering instinct that tells me it is of great significance."