Meteor Age: 5th Edition D&D

[Inevitability]

"Very well. First of all, how did you get here? Do you have a connection to any goblin groups around here? We got ambushed by one a while back. Also, do you know anything about this staff?

Don't forget, I want the truth, no lies or half-truths."

Bor keeps his eyes on the goblins face, scanning it for anything that may indicate it is not speaking the truth.

Insight: (1d20+1)[20]

[Anubis Dread]

Seems the human had stolen the pleasure of the interrogation from him... well as much as he hated the round eared savages, he had to admit he was at least doing it the proper way. No compromises, no 'I will free you if's, just good old fashioned intimidation and torture. Like the green skins deserved.

Knowing that indifference to it all would be more frightening to the goblin than even getting involved himself, Dariel turned his back on the scene and kept a look out in case other enemy's approached. This was a good time to catch his breath a bit after that skeleton nearly tore him apart anyway.

[niks97cobra]

"I am Chief Azland the 712th, and we were searching this cave to be an outpost when that thing attacked us. Uglund found that staff in the water before it got us. I am sure you were attacked by my clan, they were probably looking for my captors. They are not very bright. Escort me home, I shall reward you greatly, and you shall forever be friends of the Oddlaw Clan. Now cut me down."

Bor

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Insight
It is odd that a goblin has such a grasp of the common language, even though he doesn't seem that intelligent. He may have joblin (civilized goblin) genes.

[Sartharina]

"How long can ye hang around here?" Altarik asked the goblin. While he didn't trust the creature, he didn't share the other's hatred of Goblins. "An unusual ally would be a boon to our cause, but we have a mission here first."

[niks97cobra]

The goblin looks back and forth at the chains on both arms and fails his legs. "I guess I can hang around?"

[Anubis Dread]

"Sounds good to me," Dariel replied wryly. If he didn't think the dirt-blooded priest was in the minority he'd stab the green-skin through the chest right now just to prove a point. But he doubted that the others would feel the need to come back to untie the thing once they were done, and leaving it to die hanging up was just as effective without making nearly as many waves with his comrades. He was getting tired of being lit on fire.

[redfeline]

Therhana holds up her water skin to the goblin, and at his consent gave him a drink. I am not sure how long you'll be hanging.

Therhana wanted to release the goblin now, but the less it knew about our mission the better. Therhana reaches for her mason tools in her bag and begins to undo the nails.

[niks97cobra]

The goblin must be in some odd state of shock. He drinks the water and lets out a sigh of relief as the nails are removed. The nails being removed is enough that the goblin can slump to the ground. "Thank you so much!"

He reaches for one of the skeleton bones with his feet and begins devouring it.

[Inevitability]

Bor simply listens to the goblin. As Therhana removes the chains, he frowns but doesn't do anything. The goblin gnawing on a bone is met with a muttered phrase about vermin.

"Good. Shall we get going? This goblin will survive on his own for a while. The only question is what to do with him afterwards. I am pretty sure he isn't lying, so maybe we should return him to that village?

And if you'll excuse me, there is a ritual I can perform that may be very useful. Just wait for a while."

Bor then walks a bit away from the others, beckoning Dariel to follow him.

Spoiler: Dariel

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Once they are at a suitable distance, Bor turns and speaks softly:

"Listen. I know you hate goblins as much as I do. However, if we talk about killing them in front of our... more pacifistic allies, then I can see trouble emerging. So here's my plan. If we return their chef, we probably can get inside of their village. We then wait until everyone's asleep or busy and rid the land of those green pests. How about it?"

Spoiler: Actions

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I perform the Comprehend Languages ritual over the course of a round and 10 minutes, which I can since it's in my spellbook. For the next hour, I automatically understand all spoken and written language.

[Anubis Dread]

Seeing the signal, the elf raises an eyebrow before standing up. He needed a bit of a break from sitting here anyway. He wanted to shove the bone down the green skins throat until he choked on it.

"If you lot are going to sit here for a while I guess I might as well peer down one of the other passages. Bloody feet made of lead and all that," Dariel noted wryly before following the mage.

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The elf was surprised. Sure, he knew the human didn't like green skins, but he didn't think one dirt blood would go to so much trouble to off a different variety of dirt bloods.

"Maybe your ears aren't as rounded as I thought they were," he reluctantly complimented his comrade. "I'll be blunt - I'm more for stabbing someone in the face than in the back. Ideals don't take root unless you espouse them after all, and it's hard to do that when you're offing people in private without saying anything. In this case though you probably have the right of it. If we do something we'll probably need to off the others as well, and that's far more trouble than it's worth. Especially since I have a policy of only stabbing former comrades in the face - when everyone starts stabbing eachother in the back it turns into a bloody cluster flock."

Pausing for a few moments, the elf nodded before creeping down to the northern most passage way. "We'll do it your way for now human," he agreed.

After a brief talk with the mage, the fighter nocked his bow and crept to the northern most passage. Advanced warning had served them well last time... a quick look up this one could serve them well as well.

Spoiler

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Stealth: (1d20+5)[10]

[Inevitability]

Seeing the elf depart, Bor continues his ritual. He draws a few mystic runes on the ground, chants some arcane words, and finally makes the required gestures. As he returns to the group, he can't help but notice a tingling sensation near the back of his tongue.

Sitting down on a rock, the wizard studies his new staff silently, from time to time looking up to the goblin.

[niks97cobra]

Dariel

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The north passage leads on for quite sometime. Without wanting to get to far from the group, you find nothing more than a long, curving tunnel. Though, it does seem to get quite a bit of traffic judging by different tracks that cover each other up. Denizens of the underdark must travel this passage to get to a nice fresh water source.

Bor

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You can identify the staff as a Spider Staff. All properties can be learned by attuning it you which will take another short rest.

[Sartharina]

While Dariel and Bor plotted, Altarik consulted with Therhanna in their shared language.

Spoiler: Dwarven

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I do not trust the goblin, but I trust the elven brigand less, and doubt the human will have decent judgement on the matter. The goblin tribe's loyalty could be very valuable to our master, so it is not only just, but also prudent to honor Azland's request.

[Inevitability]

Spoiler: OOC

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Yes! I knew Comprehend Languages would come in handy!

While spending some more time on studying his staff, Bor listened to the talking dwarves, wondering why they didn't just talk to each other in common. As the name 'Azland' is mentioned, he tries to think if he's ever heard of someone named like that.

Spoiler: Actions

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Knowledge check time!

Arcana: (1d20+5)[17]
Religion: (1d20+3)[11]
Nature: (1d20+3)[23]
History: (1d20+3)[9]

[niks97cobra]

Bor

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Arcana: You remember a staff being involved.
Religion: Nil
Nature: For some reason you remember Azland being the Chief of the Oddlaw Clan of goblins, in fact, you are nearly certain that this is the goblin before you.
History: You figure you heard about him in very recent memory.

[Anubis Dread]

A rather irritated elf came back down from the north passage. "It goes on quite a ways," he told his comrades bluntly. "Too long to go all the way alone without risking some twigs trying to shove themselves up my rear or some other danger."

Blatantly ignoring the goblin simply so that he would avoid earning the further ire of his comrades by demanding he be cut down here and now, Dariel instead decided to walk over the lake and peer into it. Come to think of, except for the skeletons this was the only thing in this room really. And the skeletons had only had a single staff among them all. Maybe some things had been tossed into the lake? Or 'lake' rather.

Spoiler

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Perception to see if there's anything underwater: (1d20+5)[12]

[redfeline]

Therhana responds in a dwarven whisper.

Spoiler: Like you arn't going to read this any ways.

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I do not trust the elves judgement. Nor the judgement of any one else that would call a dragon a lizard while standing in front of one. How ever he has supported this party thus far, and until otherwise I'll trust him. Albeit with a hand on my hammer. Now enough of this conspiracy, the two of us talking in dwarven would draw attention.

So how many smart elves does it take to light a torch.

Therhana takes a fair pause.

Spoiler: Still in dwarven

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Both of them.

Therhana smiles and laughs. The laughter can always remove suspicion. Hopefully the suspicion of the two chatting dwarves, and hopefully a dwarves suspicion of elves and humans. Things were getting tense too suddenly for Therhana's tastes.

[niks97cobra]

Dariel

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You see a scattering of various rusted old equipment scattered across the bottom. Nothing of value. The nothic must toss the items in the lake. You also notice in the corner of the small lake where the water is escaping to, seems to be a small tunnel downwards.

[Anubis Dread]

Hm... thankfully leather didn't really mind the sort of activity he was considering, otherwise the rest of the dungeon trip might be a bit uncomfortable. Setting aside his bow and arrows, but figuring his crossbow may still work, Dariel removed his boots and his pack before looking back to his comrades.

"Stay here, I'll be back in a minute," he told them before jumping into the water and swimming to the passageway. If they had a short cut to the treasure horde, or another way out the red wouldn't expect them to take, it was worth investigating.

Spoiler

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Athletic (if necessary): (1d20)[17]
Stealth (if necessary, hard to be stealthy underwater): (1d20+5)[14]. And if disadvantaged, (1d20+5)[25]
Perception: (1d20+5)[17]. And if disadvantaged, (1d20+5)[19]

[niks97cobra]

Dariel

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You easily swim through the passageway and find yourself in a similar cavern you were in before. However, this cavern is in the opposite direction that your map indicated for the dragon's layer to be. There are tracks of various types of creatures on the beaches of the cavern and several tunnels leading from the cavern.

[Anubis Dread]

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Well, at least he may have found a better way out than the main entrance. Though that would require the lead weights to be able to swim, which was a tall order. Still, it was always good to have another way out.

Assuming this was safer than just leaving the main way of course...

Survival to identify type and number of creatures making the tracks: (1d20+5)[22]

[niks97cobra]

Dariel

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You can make out boot tracks, owlbear, cave rat, and many others that you either can't recognize or have been ruined by being stepped on by the others.

Repost of the cavern map for everyone

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[niks97cobra]

Plan of action?

[Anubis Dread]

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((OOC: Oops, figured I'd give everyone else a chance to post, but left it a bit too long :/))

Soon enough Dariel remerged from the lake, getting out before drying himself off as well as possible and retrieving his gear. "Looks like it leads to another passage, but it's occupied and in the opposite direction to the dragon," the elf explained in brief. "It might make a decent emergency exit, but other than that it's bloody useless. Glad I got myself wet for that."

[Inevitability]

"Occupied? What do you mean?

But regardless, leaving that place to be seems the right thing to do. My spells are not without limit, and I would prefer to safe some of my power in case something unexpected happens.

I say we go to our goal, and return here if we really have to. Goblin, try not to die until we're back."

[redfeline]

I am deeply sorry we can't release you yet., but it is for your own good.

Therhana takes her place at the front of the line. The dragons dungeon should be close. Still as loud as Therhana is, she will hand off the potion and let some one else enter.

[niks97cobra]

You quickly reach where you must use the potion to find the entrance to the dragon's lair.

Bor has one potion, Therhana the other. Moment of truth, who is going into the dragon's lair?

Hit Dice

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If you used hit dice during the short rest, now is the time to roll.

Characters

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Bor: HP 8
Dariel: HP 12
Therhana: HP 14, 8 taken
Altarik: HP 14, 4 taken

Bor

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Spider Staff
The top of this black, adamantine staff is shaped like a spider. The staff weighs 6 pounds. You must be attuned to the staff to gain its benefits and cast its spells. The staff can be wielded as a quarterstaff. It deals 1d6 extra poison damage on a hit when used to make a weapon attack.

The staff has 10 charges, which are used to fuel the spells within it. With the staff in hand, you can use your action to cast one of the following spells from the staff if the spell is on your class's spell list: spider climb (1 charge) or web (2 charges, spell save DC 15). No components are required.

The staff regains 1d6+4 expended charges each day at dusk. If you expend the staff's last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff crumbles to dust and is destroyed.

[Anubis Dread]

"Let's be honest here. I know you guys would rather light me on fire than trust me with something important, but I'm the only one who doesn't make more noise than a pair of bullets mating in this group," Dariel began, adjusting his belongings to produce as little noise as possible. "If one of us is going to do it it should be me. And don't worry I know the mission - nothing but the artifact. Still doesn't make any bloody sense, but best not to question it when a lizard that can roast your ass is involved."

[Inevitability]

Bor had to agree with Dariel, no matter how much he'd wanted someone else to go in there. Sighing, the wizard took out his new staff.

"I have to agree with you on that. So... get in there and find that artifact. But let me first cast this on you. Might be useful."

As Bor spoke the last words, he softly tapped on Dariel's feet with his new staff, which glowed slightly before returning to their original appearance.

"Here. I wasted some of my staff's power on that, so don't screw up."

Spoiler: Actions

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I am casting Spider Climb on Dariel, using a charge from my sweet new staff (seriously, that thing's awesome).

I will be concentrating on the spell until I say I am not anymore.

[Anubis Dread]

"The he-" the elf muffled his own protests at having a spell cast on him without being informed what it was first. They were close enough to the dragon they needed to be quiet. "I mean, give me some warning next time will ya?" Dariel went on more quietly, taking Bor's potion. They only had a limited time... he needed to drink this right before entering the dragon's room, or else it risked running out half way to the exit.

"Any other preperations?" he asked wryly.