IC: Sentinels of Houshen [D&D 5E] Thread: I

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

Well that was...weird...

"Well then, maybe we can help each other out. My friends and I need to find that chair, or rather, the man who was riding in it. If you can tell us where the shouren--I mean, the 'mountain-walkers'--took it, then perhaps we could repay you in turn?"

[Felhammer]

The hand floats back up to the Bidao's face and says, "Do it. Say yes."

The litle man clutches his head with his other hand and debates the issue quietly with himself and his... Hand...

"Fine. Mountain-Walkers took chair to secret cave. Hmm, how Owo know you not cheat him?"

"Don't ask that! Rude!"

"SHHHH! Me need know."

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

Xiulan tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment as she considered the bidao's question.

"Well, I suppose that's fair."

She fished around on her person for her money pouch, hoping it was still there after the fall. Upon locating it, she withdrew it and tossed it toward the diminutive scavenger.

"You said you needed gold right? Take that as collateral. If we're lying, try to cheat you, or in any way fail to uphold our end of the bargain, you keep that. Is that agreeable?"

Was... was it alright to not say anything about the rest of the money I'm carrying...?

Spoiler

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Xiulan will give the bidao 30 gp in cash. (And very selectively will not mention the other 38 she's keeping on her person.)

Persuasion if needed?
(1d20+7)[24]

[Felhammer]

Owo leaps and bounds quite recklessly forward and practically snatches the bag of gold out of Xiulan's hand. His eyes grow wide when he peaks inside.

His hand says, "Good. Good. Give rope. Me take you to cave."

After being given a a coil of rope, the Bidao runs down the path about a quarter mile before jumping onto the cliff-side and scurries up the wall. He stops about forty feet up at a spot that looks no more or less different than any other. His hand looks down and says, "Here. Here."

With a quick flip, the Bidao leaps... Through the rock!

After a minute or so, his head appears through the rock, "Come, come, climb!"

After much trial and error all seven of the adventurers manage to climb up the rope. They find themselves in a darkened cave that reeks of rotten flesh. The cave seems to meander through the bedrock. Owo looks more than a little worried, "I stay in back. You fight."

[Dudu]

"Well, we really are following the word of an obviously crazy bidao. But I guess we don't have many options and even less time to spare."

He starts walking, leading the way.

Spoiler: ooc

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Btw, are we able to see clearly? Just noticed I got the midly useless "mending" cantrip instead of the staple "light".

[Felhammer]

Owo whispers, "Flame stick. Me hold."

His hand looks at him, then at the group, "Yes. Yes. Flame stick. Give."

The meandering path inside the cave eventually leads to a rickety wooden door that is practically falling off its hinges.

Spoiler: Perception

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I roll, you add your modifiers.

Cao Bai (1d20)[13]
Fai (1d20)[5]
Hei Jiafa (1d20)[12]
Kari (Lyn) (1d20)[10]
Li Mei (1d20)[17]
Wei Xiulan (1d20)[18]

Spoiler: DC 14

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You can faintly hear pigs grunting and snorting.

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

"I stay in back. You fight."

"Fight.... what exactly?"

At the thought of combat, Xiulan found her hand falling down toward the hilt of her sword. It really was mostly just for show and hadn't been used in a real fight before. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she'd hoped that she might be able to get through the whole mercenary job without having to actually use it. The thought that she might need to in just a few moments was... more than a little unsettling.

[Dudu]

Xiulan



"Fight.... what exactly?"

"I'm not counting on Shouren handing us any valuable prize. In fact, I'm not counting on them handing us anything other than pain. And I don't think this blessed silver tongue of yours will change that. C'mon, I'm sure you are a lot tougher than you imagine."

Cao keeps walking, feigning some bravery who doesn't really have.

Hmph, I'm not too fond of fighting either, but the hell I was expecting by joining a mercenary band anyway? Stupid, stupid idea...

[HanaRei]

Kari

She looked back and forth, tapping her chin. The darkness made peeking in quite difficult. The light would likely expose them in the process. Still, she supposed it was her duty to take up some sneaking up front. Why couldn't it be in a place that is much better lit?

"Oh! Do you want me taking the lead and being sneaky like? Though this cave is pretty stinky and I'm sure anything in here will probably be like 'wah! That's lights!' and I'll be like 'oh darns, they see lights!'. Though I suppose there could be traps to, those don't usually react to light... though there was this one time it was like some stone and there was a light in my hand and it went 'glimmer!' I mean... like the effect, didn't mean it like a sound effect. Trap went off, bad stuff happened, then I woke up! I suppose that was a dream though and not real... oh well!" She commented seeming to make up a short dialog of her own for whatever strange reason she had for doing so. She shuffled forward keeping her eyes pealed forward, paying careful attention despite feigning as if she was just ditzily acting.

She took up the leap, smiling brightly as she ventured forward, paying attention to the surroundings looking out for traps while acting purposely a little bit haphazard in her efforts, really hoping nothing lurked just within range of her as she quietly took the lead.

Spoiler: actions

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Taking the lead *shiver* I assume you want perception and I'll do investigation to check for any signs that might expose a possible trap or ambush spot, and stealth to keep quiet.

Perception: (1d20+2)[11]
Investigation: (1d20+5)[11]
Stealth: (1d20+5)[10]

[Felhammer]

Kari cracks the door open and slips inside.

Spoiler: Kari

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You are immediately confronted with the smell of poop. Specifically, pig poop. As she looks around, Kari sees a large pig pen, filled with wet, brown earth. Four dire pigs lounge in the muck. A sow in the back is nursing a liter of dog-sized piglets. Along the walls are blood-stained blades, some are dull and some are sharp. In the corner is a bloody table covered in the entrails of a recently slaughtered pig.

Two doors lead out of this room. The southern one is another rickety wooden door, while the western one is made of stone and looks to be rarely used.

[HanaRei]

Kari

The stench filled her nose as she looked a bit displeased to say the least to it. She suddenly held her breath, in some strange way perhaps hoping to mitigate the stretch although her later breath only confirmed it made it that much worst whiffing it in when she finally needed air. She noticed the doors eyeing up the wooden door in particular.

Most likely the one that would be used... and its way to rickety looking to even attempt to sneak through it on my own. It would be best to have the others nearby before going in there. The other door should be safer to open though it would be better to have them around in the off chance something happens to be in that direction... or whoever it is around here is still in the area given I can't just sneak through the other door to check. Given its rare usage it likely has tools or other materials like that which are too bulky to easily pick pocket for myself, none of which are likely going to be worth that much money.

She shimmied to the cracked open door, waving her hand. A bit of a goofy look on her face. "Hiya! Well... theres... little big piggies in there... in a little pen thingy... and lots of red stuff all over the place. Nothing inside though just two more doors. Should be safe to get in, just don't go scaring the piggies or anything, they got the lil babies in there that are saw awwww cuuute! That and the mommy we don't wanna go startling to much even if she is in a pen. Just don't be too loud, mkay?" She spoke smiling brightly as she slipped back through the crack of the door.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

Jiafa had been silent ever since the bottom of the canyon, Xiulan having stepped forward before he could concoct a suitable lie to lead along the bidao. He had raised a bit of an eyebrow at her offering him the gold outright, but then again, he had also been proud of her for not mentioning the rest of it that she had.

And in the end, the bidao had brought them here, in the glorious pursuit of further profit. No need to get rid of a good thing, right?

He, of course, had heard the sound of pigs far before that ditz of a woman had ever pointed them out. He massaged his temples as she rambled on, a slight groan coming from his throat.

You're going to get us all killed if you don't shape up...

Nonetheless, he took her advice to keep quiet and not disturb the sow, and gently stepped into the room, his Devil's sight allowing him to see perfectly in the dark of the cave. Looking around, he gestured toward the rickety door.

"It seems that the stone door would be more likely to lead directly to the Shouren, as I expect that they would want something well-made and defensible. On the other hand, that door looks rather rickety, and not very quiet if you were to open it..."

Spoiler: OOC

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What is the proper skill for quietly opening a door? Stealth? If so, someone else probably ought to do it, as Jiafa isn't trained.

[Dudu]

"We might have to kill the pigs if they get scared. If they get scandalous, we will have to do it very quickly."
Whispers the explorer.

I regret leaving my explorer robes for this mercenary plate now. Hard to be sneaky.

Spoiler: OOC

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Kari is opening for us then. And remember, every skill check you guys make, count on my guidance

[Estralita]

Mei

Having done what she could for the dead at the moment, Mei followed cautiously behind the rest of the group. Serve the dead, and the living, make sure they all had the best chance possible of continuing on the Middle Path.

But tactics in battle... that was not her area of expertise. Mei waited to see what the others had to say before commenting.

[Felhammer]

The party creeps over to the rickety wooden door. They cannot hear anything inside due to the ruckus noise of the pigs behind them. As they push the door open...

They are confronted with a room full of Longyi corpses. Limbs, torsos and heads have been hacked at with meat cleavers, the remains piled up haphazardly. This messy mass of body parts makes deducing just how many corpses the Shouren took difficult, to say the least. The bodies have been stripped of their armor and most of their clothing. Not a weapon in sight (which makes sense, given the higher quality materials and craftsmanship used in the creation of Hong Longese weapons as compared to the effective but simple weapons employed by the Shouren).

Owo sneers, "Filthy Shouren!" His hand responds, "Useful! Useful! The bodies make them stronger."


Beyond the corpses is another rickety wooden door.

Spoiler: History

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Cao Bai (1d20)[4]
Fai (1d20)[13]
Hei Jiafa (1d20)[20]
Kari (Lyn) (1d20)[4]
Li Mei (1d20)[2]
Wei Xiulan (1d20)[16]

Spoiler: DC 14

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You have heard stories of Shouren taking corpses of fallen enemies they deemed worthy back to their camps. The Shouren then devour bits of the bodies and are empowered with the "Warrior Spirit" of the fallen.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

In contrast to the more expected reaction of someone facing a pile of corpses being cannibalized - namely, nausea and horror - Jiafa merely scoffed in contempt.

Savages.

Palming his focus crystal, Jiafa approached the rickety wooden door at the other side of the room and pressed his ear against it.

Spoiler: Actions

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Eldritch Blast Attack: (1d20+6)[19]
Damage: (1d10+4)[8]

Stealth: 8
Perception: 23

[Felhammer]

Jiafa presses his ear to the door and hears the sound of someone rustling through... Metal? Wood...? Hard to tell.

Spoiler: If you open the door

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When you open the door, you see an elderly Shouren, kneeling over a pile of weapons and armor, all of which obviously once belonged to both Shouren and civilized folk. He doesn't seem to notice your presence. As you watch him, it becomes apparent that he is blind, as both of his eyes are completely white, like two dirty pearls. He stumbles around the room, sorting the kit into piles (armor, civilized weapons, Shouren weapons, etc.).

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

Jiafa huffed slightly as he opened the door and looked upon the blind shouren, a mix of disgust and pity in his gut.

Such a wretch is no threat to us, and hardly worth the effort of killing.

Spoiler: If Jiafa is unaware of the door marked on the map that is on the other side of the Shouren...

Show

The Zirisen turned back to the others. "A blind Shouren sorting the spoils of war. Weapons and armor, by the looks of it - hardly worth our time. Let us go back and examine the stone door."

Spoiler: If Jiafa is aware of the door...

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Looking back at the others, Jiafa gestured at the Shouren. "He's completely blind. If anyone is sneaky enough to take him by surprise, he should go down easiliy."

He then waited for anyone else to attack him before unleashing an eldritch blast of power at the blind orc's skull.

Spoiler: Actions

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And here we come to one of the bigger differences in playing good vs evil characters.

Attack: (1d20+6)[10]
Damage: (1d10+4)[6]

[Felhammer]

Spoiler: Door

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You see the door

Owo whispers, "Leave him be."

His Hand disagrees, "Kill him."

"No, no. He is nice Shouren."

"Hahaha. No such thing."

[HanaRei]

Kari

The young woman stands quietly, listening to the mentioning of the blind one. She blinked staring on seemingly in thought. She looked at the brief squabble debating killing the blind man. She scratched her chin looking in thought. "I mean... I could take care of him... though I'm getting mixed signals and all about it. Is he an enemy or not?" She spoke looking between the two. She looked rather lost, not certain what to react simply awaiting for someone else to speak before she might act.

[Estralita]

Mei frowned. Killing a helpless man sounded like it would go much to far down the path to Hell. And it seemed so unnecessary. "We stall while we argue. I'll go knock him out, then we can decide." Mei tried to move silently around the Shouren, quarterstaff at the ready.

Spoiler: OOC

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Stealth Time!:
(d20+5)[17]

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

"Wait... 'take him by surprise'? Isn't that a little...excessive? I mean, we could always just try sneaking past--he's blind, right? Maybe..."

The scholar tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment as she sat in thought.

"Alright, he's blind. So we throw something across the room to a corner, make a noise. He'd probably thinks something just fell over and goes to put it back. We use that chance to slip past unnoticed. Or... there's a whole room of giant pigs back there! We throw a rock at one of the little ones and get it squealing. He goes to check on it and we go through then. We don't really need to jump right to lethal methods here."

Xiulan glanced back over her shoulder at the previous room.

"Also, wouldn't it be worth investigating that other door beforehand? I'm not sure I'm comfortable not knowing what could be behind us..."

Spoiler

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If it seems there are no objections (and nobody else is making a move), Xiulan will find a rock or something convenient to toss at a far corner of the room (or possibly a pig) and proceed to do so once people look ready.

If people are still hanging around deciding what to do, she's going to go take a look through the other door. (I think it was a stone door?)

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

As Xiulan voiced her objections, Jiafa turned to her.

"Remember how we've talked about how sometimes you need to be willing to get your hands dirty to get ahead? Well, this is one of them. That orc is blind, true, but as it happens, blind people usually have very sensitive hearing. If we all try to sneak past, he's bound to hear at least one of us, and I don't speak orcish, so I can't bluff our way past either. As for going back to the stone door, I highly advise we continue searching this side passage first - there may be some useful items or information hidden away here that can help us before plunging into what's undoubtedly the heart of the base here."

"In any case," Jiafa said as Mei moved into the room, "Knocking him out will also work. Is that an acceptable compromise?"

[Dudu]

Jiafa
"Knocking him out will also work. Is that an acceptable compromise?"

"Sounds solid to me. We are going nowhere by assuming he is harmless just because he is blind. He could as well be the nastiest Shouren in the whole world. How else he would survive long enough to be an elderly man even though he is blind? Those people would leave him to rot alone if he couldn't prove himself useful."

Cao isn't convinced on the sneaking strategy. Knocking him sounds wiser. And among flesh eating barbarians, you got to respect those who lived long enough when all the odds were against it.

In any case, he is ready if Mei's attempt to knock goes poorly.

Spoiler: Action

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Readied Ray of Frost against the blind old man if he notices Mei.

[Felhammer]

Mei sneaks into the room quietly. The Shouren appears to not notice. As she creeps further in, the Shouren whirls around and lets out a gout of fire! As the flames lick Mei's frame, the blind man says, "I may be blind but I am not deaf. I could hear you when you entered the room with the pigs. I could smell you once you entered the adjacent room. You will not leave this room alive."

Spoiler: OOC

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Shouren makes a Flame Breath Attack! (1d20+6)[17] // (2d6)[12] Fire Damage

[Dudu]

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the time I remark 'I told you', isn't it?"

His finger was poiting the blind man for a while and now he zaps it.

Spoiler: Action

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Readied Ray of Frost
(1d20+8)[16] dmg(1d8)[1] (cold and -10 to movement)

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

"It only counts if you put money down on it."

Whipping up his focus crystal, Jiafa finally displayed his primary method of attack to the rest of the world, a bolt of eldritch force crashing into the Shouren.

Spoiler: Actions

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Attack: (1d20+6)[11]
Damage: (1d10+4)[9]

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

Things were quickly spiraling out of control. First jets of flame leapt out, provoking response from the others. Xiulan looked around in confusion at the sudden violence that had erupted in the space of a few seconds. Spinning towards the shouren, she called out.

"Hey! Hold on a minute! Look, you can speak Yun, so that means you should be smart enough to reason with. Maybe you could tell by hearing, maybe not, but there's half a dozen of us here and just yourself against us. Maybe you manage to kill one or some of us, but there's no way you can beat everyone and you'll certainly die yourself in the process. Your tribe... you've already won. Our army is beaten. Right now, we just want to leave, but we have to take the Chuangzhu back with us. If you and your tribe will just allow that, we'll go and nobody else has to die... on either side. Don't you think that's the most reasonable course of action?"

Spoiler

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And after writing all that up I reeeeaaaally hope the Persuade roll doesn't go awful...

Persuasion: (1d20+7)[9]

[Felhammer]

The blind Shouren is stung by the frigid ray but his determination is only steeled by the assault. He breathes in deep and takes up the crane stance. "There are many of you and but one of me. I could hold you off, make enough noise, alert my allies. You may kill me, you may not. I may be blind but I am far from helpless. I have absorbed the warrior spirits of your fallen soldiers. I am far from helpless. You seek your leader? He was the reason we attacked. His father sent an army of dragon-men into the Mongontai and kidnapped our women and children. He thought we would recklessly rush into his lands, enter his trap and be destroyed. He was wrong. That is why he sent his son here. To provoke us. We have turned the sword against him. With his son, we now have all the power. I do not wish to harm him but I will not allow our women and children to be corralled like animals, beaten, tortured, murdered. No. For every woman he kills, I will remove a finger from the boy. For every child he murders, I will remove a limb. I do not wish to hurt the boy but desperate times call for decisive action. I will allow you to leave, report your findings to your governor. Tell him, we wish to negotiate."

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

Jiafa, in the end, could not help but be surprised at the sheer spryness of the old Shouren. Frowning at the mention of further noise calling in reinforcements, the Zirisen twirled his focus crystal in his fingers as he began talking smoothly to the Shouren.

"Before we leave, tell us. It is clear from your prowess and the ease and command with which you speak that you are no ordinary Shouren, which begs the question: To whom do we have the pleasure of speaking? Also, though we will of course be more than willing to deliver your message, we will require some proof that our leader yet lives."

Spoiler: Actions

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Persuasion: (1d20+6)[13]