"Small Town" Chapter 1

[theduck]

I've already dealt enough with monsters in mating seasons to last me for quite a while... do you know of anything we could use to distract them? Do you think a fire would attract them, or drive them away?

[distant quasar]

"I'd assume drive them away, as they are so vulnerable to it, but I am not sure. Perhaps if any of us have prepared illusions, we could use them. Or perhaps I could summon some beasties and send them off to make a distraction."

[Batpope Scott]

Wouldn't disturbing them at all send the swarm into fits? Perhaps it would be better to just try and put them to sleep or sneak past?

Ivellios stops for a moment.

Putting them to sleep would be rather difficult and I don't have the power to get them all. Sorry.

[distant quasar]

"We couldn't all sneak past. I can use my druidic connection with nature to convince most of them to leave us a alone, but a few males are sure to challenge us. We would have to deal with them quickly."

[boldfont]

The Vote

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In my capacity as DM and mover of things forward, I am writing in a vote. In my experience players can discuss options for hours and it is much more fun to do stuff. With that in mind, voting options are based on what is proposed so far and voting closes on Wednesday or when we have four votes, which ever comes first. You can still introduce new ideas and vote on those.

There were many great and, uh, interesting ideas discussed at the edge of the flower forest, but the day was waning and the vampiric butterflies wre growing more "restless". Of course, "vampiric" referred to their blood sucking nature and not any undead quality, but this was little comfort to Pock when he saw one unroll its 10 foot proboscis. They needed a plan, and it had to be good.

The options so far were:

• Drive them away with fire
• Attract them with fire (this was actually the same plan as the first with different results)
• Use illusions to distract them
• Kill them all!
• Sneak or charm the party's way past them

They were all fine solutions, but at least one of them was guaranteed to go horribly wrong and get everyone killed. The SWAG crew decided to put these options to a vote.

[theduck]

Well... while I think a couple of us could sneak through, I reckon we all couldn't, and if we fight, it needs to be on our terms. I say we try driving them away with the fire - that ways, we at least have fire at hand, if they decide to attack.

[distant quasar]

"I don't know. I've had some bad experience with fire. Perhaps we could try distracting them with summoned beasties?"

[Batpope Scott]

I say we do both. Fire to set them on edge and then a summoned creature to herd them away from our path.

[Swami Monsoon]

Akbar frowns in deliberation for a few moments and then speaks up.

"I think what the druid said first... try to calm them down, and then the stubborn ones that still want sexy time... we smash them hard in the face. Make an example, even. If we try to scare them all away they might all run off. Or they might all try to run us over... Mobs are very scary things. Especially mobs with ten foot naughty bits..."

[boldfont]

The Swag crew voted on the best course of action, but the votes split two ways. On one hand there was some kind of burning and herding plan. On the other hand there was a calming/sneaking and bashing plan. The votes being split, the SWAG crew then decided to decide by other means. But should they flip a coin or arm wrestle?

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Okay, now I'm totally messing with you.
Write in a solution soon please. My vampire butterfly are getting restless!

[Batpope Scott]

If we are careful, the mob can be directed away from us. They are also flying creatures and I would wager that any immediately fearful of the fire would take flight and move away from the area instead of charging over land like cattle would.

[boldfont]

The discussion was at a grid lock. Ivellios and Pock wanted to clear a path with fire, but Akbar and Ferran were resolved to walk through the herd and deal with trouble makers individually. After the vote split, they SWAG team attempted to break the tie with tiddly-winks, rock/paper/scissors, and volleyball, but the results were continually tied. Could nothing break this split?

Finally, someone suggested flipping a coin. Heads (1) for Fire. Tails (2) for walking through.

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Yeah... its clear you guys aren't going to resolve this through debate among yourselves. lol. I see some of you are online now. Would one of you do the honours and flip the coin? a 1d2. Or any silly fun way of making a decision. Dance contest! I dunno.

[Swami Monsoon]

Akbar reaches inside his cart and pulls out a disc of unleavened bread.

"Back home, when we are sticking on a choice like this, we flip a roti. So..." He holds up the bread and breathes gently on it, just enough to brown one side... "That is 'heads'... for doing the fire thing."

With a flip of the wrist he sends the roti tumbling through the air...

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(1d2)[2]

[boldfont]

Tip toe through Butterfly Lane (beginning)

The roti flops crispy side down, meaning the group was going to walk through the flower forest. In single file they march through the butterfly crowd. Some twitch their wings in aggitation, but it looks as if the plan is working. For the most part the ignore the party.


They encounter their first obstacle: a massive male vampiricus speciosus nymphalidae with enflamed gonads. It stretches its colorful wings out in the universal sign for "I'm going to mess you up". It is particularly bad timing. They had just passed another aggravated male that Ferran was barely able to convince to let them through.

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This encounter will have three parts: beginning, middle and end with a different challenge at each part.

The green circles are flower stems. The yellow are relatively calm Butterfly Wild Empathy DC 25 to pass under or Move Silently DC 20. Otherwise you may take 10 to go around. The Orange are aggravated and require DC 20 just to approach within 5 ft. You may request a change in marching order before initiative is rolled. Right now, the butterfly in fronth (north) is only showing signs of aggression so there is no need to roll initiative. Assume time is relevant and you can't discuss at length. So instead of being polite to your friends and asking "what if I do x" I'd prefer that you do it and see wht happens. Its your game of course. Remember to use grid coordinates.

Map

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Edit: Opps! Looks like I forgot the map. Man, I must be tired.

[distant quasar]

Ferran keeps a cautious eye on the aggravated vampire butterfly, proceeding around it. "Follow me," he whispers to his friends. He goes carefully so as not to agitate the other, relatively calm butterflies.

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Moving up one space into K5, over into K1, then heading straight forward to A1, assuming all goes well.

Taking 10 to go around the yellow spaces.

I won't be passing within 5ft of the agitated male to the north, but just in case:
(1d20+9)[29] wooooh!

[boldfont]

Ferran keeps a cautious eye on the aggravated vampire butterfly, proceeding around it. "Follow me," he whispers to his friends. He goes carefully so as not to agitate the other, relatively calm butterflies.

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Moving up one space into K5, over into K1, then heading straight forward to A1, assuming all goes well.

Taking 10 to go around the yellow spaces.

I won't be passing within 5ft of the agitated male to the north, but just in case:
[roll0] wooooh!

Everything was going smoothly. The Butterfly was very protective of its mate, a drab looking female with wide antennae, but Ferran manages to calm the male down with a soothing lullabye. It would have gone even better if the second male from behind wasn't following them. This second male did not appear to be overly aggravated, but he did have a negative effect on the first. So, now there is one butterfly stalking the party and another that is getting increasingly aggitated (through no fault of Ferran's). Ferran suspects that leading their new stalker any closer will send the other male into a rage. And if not this male, then the next. They have got to do something about their new "friend".

Map

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Pink is the one following you.

[Batpope Scott]

Ivellios whispers the components to his spell and adds in Sorry for the inconvenience to you.

Ivellios is attempting to cast deep slumber on our follower. DC is 15 will.

[boldfont]

Ivellios whispers the components to his spell and adds in Sorry for the inconvenience to you.

Ivellios is attempting to cast deep slumber on our follower. DC is 15 will.

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Will Save (1d20+3)[17]

The giant vampire butterfly stumbles drowsily for a moment but shakes it off. It seems very intent on following the party.

[distant quasar]

"Just keep going straight ahead. Stay right behind me," Ferran whispers behind him, incanting a spell immediately afterwards. Mist rises up, obscuring the things around them.

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Casting obscuring mist. Walking straight forward. Taking 10 on wild empathy with the relatively calm vampire butterflies to move around them.

[theduck]

Pock leans up and whispers to the others.

I suppose if the fog don't get the butterfly off our tail. I can try leading him to another male, then get a them fightin'

[boldfont]

The obscuring mist obscures the team, just as promised in the name of the spell. They manage to shake their curious follower with relative ease. Seven minutes later the effect wears off, but by then the group is far from the condensed cluster of angry butterflies.

Butterfly Lane (the middle part)

The SWAG crew are navigating through the butterflies successfully and it begins to look like they might even make it through without a conflict. The heard begins to thin out and the travel becomes easy. Pock is the first to hear the din of butterfly flight ahead. Then everyone. The sound becomes deafening, despite the buffering effect of the flower forest. Up ahead the group can see a massive crowd of butterfly fleeing. From what, Ferran could not say, but he did know they had their share of predators. The flower forest became eerily silent and empty. An enormous petal floated down and landed behind them. Every fiber in their being told them that something was there in the giant garden with them...

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SPOT and LISTEN checks
Knowledge: Nature 15/20/25 Skilled only

Ivellios
S (1d20+2)[21]
L (1d20+2)[5]
KN (1d20+12)[27]

Ferran (Wow!)
S (1d20+9)[16]
L (1d20+9)[14]
KN (1d20+14)[23]

Pock
S (1d20+3)[18]
L (1d20+12)[17]

Akbar
S (1d20+2)[11]
L (1d20+6)[11]
KN (1d20+4)[18]

Beastie
H (1d20+16)[33]
MS (1d20+8)[19]

[boldfont]

Ivellios is the only one that sees it. An enormous, but fine and silky, spider web. They are surrounded by webs! Whats more, he recognizes the sickly sweet smell of undeath. He has read about this; it can only be "The Giant Spider Zombie Azkabeth!!!" (or "GSZ" for short)

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I give Ivellios artistic license to make up facts concerning this gargantuan zombie spider. Needless to say, it is a ridiculous template pairing and it should be a fun encounter.

Ivellios knows with all certainty that the GSZ is nearby, hiding and waiting in its translucent web. It may not wait for the party to get stuck either. It is a common hunting strategy for the GSZ to create a horseshoe or cup shaped web. That way, even if its prey spots the web, it is still trapped by it. It always baffled Ivellios how something so big could be so good at hiding. He didn't want to find out (at least, not like this). They were being hunted!

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Grey is web, pink are petals, green are stems, and the dots are you folk.

[Batpope Scott]

Ivellios' heart sinks at the sight of the web. He speaks in a low tone to his friends. We should come back the way we came. This path is home to Azkabeth; The reek of undeath tells me the webs are the great spider-king's doing. Be wary, he is as crafty as he is malevolent and nobody can ever seem to explain his powers of stealth.

Ivellios looks around for a way back.

We may have already fallen into his trap...

[distant quasar]

Ferran looks sideways at Ivellios. "Azkabeth? Funny... this name sounds oddly familiar." he pauses for a moment.
"Best be prepared."

The druid's form grows and shifts, and within a few moments, Ferranbear stands and roars his defiance.

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Wildshape into grizzly. Rawr.

[Swami Monsoon]

Akbar had been very glad that he had decided to put rubber tires on the cart. It kept the noise to a minimum... very good for sneaking past giant bugs looking for sexy time. Good for things that were trying to find you, not so good for things that waited for you to find them... such as, GIANT SPIDERS.

"Oh, my. Now it is time for killing with fire. If you have ever wondered about how I look, my funny clothes, my accent, where I come from... you can be reassured of one thing. I hate spiders every bit as much as you..."

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Senses Aura currently active

[boldfont]

Hullo Hullo my pretty pretties

says a creepy disembodied voice from everywhere and nowhere at once.

I've not had a tasty people treat is ssssome time now. WWwwwwhich one of you will be noble enough to volunteer...

as my supper?

The question was rhetorical, one would hope.

Food always tastes better when it can think for itself

wouldn't you agree?

Did it? Chicken probably doesn't count as going towards that category.

It's really quite simple actually
I have you trapped
Now I get to eat you
But I detest drawn out combats, so...

Another petal falls to the ground.

If one of you would voluntarily
jump into my web,
then the rest can be on their way.

[theduck]

Well, that is a mighty fine offer there. Sadly, we have already lost too many friends this trip, and can ill afford to lose another. You seem to be a reasonable spider, and I would hate for any us to need to inflict any violence upon you. But, if you force this matter, and insist one of us gives ourselves up, we may very well do harm to you and yours. Now, it may not taste as well, but we could easily attract some of those vampiric moths, who while not as sentient as some, will surely put up less of a struggle then we four. So what say sou?c

[Swami Monsoon]

Akbar takes an experimental breath at one of the web strands, checking just how flammable it is...

[boldfont]

Akbar takes an experimental breath at one of the web strands, checking just how flammable it is...

The web burns away quickly, as you might expect, but does not continue burning past the immediate application of flame. Akbar has punched a 5 foot hole in the webbing. He can see more webbing deeper into the flower forest. The drained husks of butterflies hanging from overgrown leaves give the extensive webbing away.

As you can see
I have had my fill of bugs.

The "The Giant Spider Zombie Azkabeth!!!" drops down behind the party from the petals above with surprising grace. His grey rotting exoskeleton is flaking off in the wind. He has a gaping hole in his abdomen with butterfly plasma dripping out of it. No matter how many creatures he sucks dry, he will never be satiated.

Run my pretties!
I'll take the slowest of you
Or stay
And I'll have you all!

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Initiative
GZS (1d20+2)[9]
Pock (1d20+8)[14]
Akbar (1d20+2)[20]
Ivellios (1d20-5)[12]
Ferran (1d20+1)[3]

[Swami Monsoon]

"If you must eat me, sir... be aware that I am very spicy. Much too hot for pale Western palates like yours. Let me demonstrate..."

Akbar steps forward and exhales a jet of searing flame into whatever it is that an undead spider thing uses for a face...

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Move to G-7
Fire breath at spider (30' line, DC 18)
(3d6)[9]