Hekazu

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

This is dreadfully small. But I figure it will serve us well enough. Remember that two of the adversaries are currently out of sight!

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Yes, much agreed, I do not regard his disappearance being particularly light; they never struck me as that sort of person at their core. Hopefully they are well and it is just that they are far too preoccupied than anything else. As far as our game continues however, for @Hekazu, Brannor is on initiative count 19.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity

I do know a bit about the situation at hand, but his personal matters are not mine to share. Let it be said that we are not being purposefully ignored, as far as I have come to know. Anyway, I believe your initiative score was sorted by your last post. I have it at 16.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Well if this isn't shaping up to be interesting. Torus has Thunderwave. I have a bit of a hunch you don't want that kind of a boom announcing your entry though. Not like the man has any other AoE options though, with the Ice Knife having been swapped out. We'll see how this'll go. Let me whip up a battlemap if I can…

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Oddly enough, despite her initial thoughts wandering off to magic, something in Kyra's mind nagged at her. Above ground, many grew with an aversion for strong sunlight. Here where only fragments of the light could make it this far and they were possibly being tended to… if she was to believe the spores of these mushrooms to have come all the way from the dreaded Underdark, it would all add together. But was she going to go to such lengths, when magic was the much likelier explanation. And possibly less hostile to boot.

As soon as the beating of small wings and the creatures attached to them approaching had been noted, the adventurers scrambled. Each and every single one of them sought their own hiding spots, Torus realising that he would have to do such a thing only once the others had already been on the move for a few seconds. In the end, the monsters further away ended up catching on the presence of intruders through the least prepared and the most noisy examples. Their war cries echoed sharply in the cavern, but there was still hope that the five creatures emerging from the mist would not alert others were those noises silenced swiftly enough. And as for what they were, it would be known soon as they would fly close enough to be recognisable.

Their adversaries were kobolds with leathern wings on their backs. Only those who'd taken part in the burning of the kobold huts more directly might have seen these before, in service to the cult of the Dragon or outside of it. Two dived to the mass of mushrooms below the ledge and out of view, while the three still flapping in the air drew their daggers and prepared to charge at their ten foot flight height. They stalled momentarily, as if waiting for something.

Mechanics&Rolls

Information regarding Kyra's nature check was given in the post.

Torus receives the message and attempts to hide, though by that point the enemy has already had more time to approach and his efforts are hindered. Despite me originally forgetting to perform the Perception check for him to move faster, once done retoractively it resulted in a 7, not cluing him in until told otherwise. In the end, the Stealth roll was made at disadvantage and resulted in a 7, the second roll of the lot being 9.

Combat is upon us once more. Roll for initiative! Torus's is 13. It is reasonable to assume that the monsters are not aware of all of you, with them openly showing that they've noticed Torus and Orchid thus far.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Ryonara@Gordian Nought@Lucius Cypher@Norschtalen

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

All right. If We do not hear of @Gordian Nought in the coming day, I'll have to default Torus's action again to keep the ball rolling. And from that point onward I shall need to assume control just as well. Expect any DMPCs to be rather passive, though it will lose a fair amount of the character's charm. But what can you do?

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

It had barely been a contest. The outermost guard was struck down, and by all visible and audible accounts that was that. The deeper parts of the cavern looked ripe for ambush, but even the heavy blade wielding man of the wilds could not sense further threats in the immediate vicinity. One could go as far as to say that the locale could be considered eerily quiet. The ceiling extended fifteen feet up from the ground, the light of the sun shedding its gift from up on high to the mouth of the cave, the shadow slowly slipping deeper into the cave before it. But it wasn't likely that they could simply wait around for it to show them more. The wind moaned in the adventurer's ears, drowning most other sound if there was any to be heard. But it would also benefit them by obscuring the sounds of their arrival.

The sun's light barely reached out sixty feet past the opening, the passage staying largely as wide as it was at the entry, the full thirty feet getting cut down where the cave began to curve towards the right, even those with nightvision able to only see to the point where the third pillar joined the two former ones, each of them looking as natural as they came. A short walk deeper inside would reveal the tunnel to curve off into a smaller nook with no visible way forward, whereas curving back towards the left came a sudden ten foot drop with a set of fifteen to ten foot wide stairs leading downwards. At the bottom was what could only be interpreted as a farm, for the cavern was carpeted with a profusion of fungi ranging from few inches to nearly as tall as a human adult. Two paths lead through the fungi, one on the left and one on the right.

But this wasn't everything still. Before the decision for the next course of action to follow had been finalised, those with the ability to see in the dark would note wings flapping in the darkness. Small wings, but wings nonetheless. They had little time to react. If they wanted to get an edge on whatever was coming, they would need to hide themselves quickly.

Mechanics&Rolls

The earlier combat has been finished. No further opposition presented itself until deeper in the cave, above a fungus garden. Those without Darkvision should roll Perception to see if they are aware of the approaching enemy, while those with Darkvision get the knowledge by default. Those that are aware and wish to maintain Stealth should roll for it, and providing initiative would likely be a fine idea soon. Doing so now could speed the process up.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Ryonara@Gordian Nought@Lucius Cypher@Norschtalen

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

You have rid yourselves of the enemy guard. DM post to follow this evening.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

You have felled one of the two guards and put the first instance of damage in for the other @Lucius Cypher. It is now Ashkar Brannor's turn @The Harbinger of Ferocity.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

The insults of the halfling had not had the desired outcome, the hardened minds of the fanatic discarding them to the side as they pulled their sword out of its sheath with fervour. Torus saw this, and decided to make an attempt at hindering the opposition's assault in another way. The druid did not rush in like many of his compatriots were expected to, but nor did he hang back as far as might be expected from someone of his old and frail appearance. He raised his hand, calling upon the powers of cold nature to stop the march of the destructive chromatic dragonkind. One cultist at a time. Flakes of frost began to coalesce on the sword arm of the opponent before them, the one whose chest was still decorated by an arrow.

The attack that targeted the less mental side of the adversary had greater success than its predecessor, the dragonclaw finding themselves unable to drive away the numbing sensation that began attacking their arm and making moving it increasingly difficult. Naturally the power of the magic would only prove to be enough for the initial touch rather than anything truly lasting, though by the looks of it something more permanent might well have taken place if not for the grit of the opponent. The sabre shook in unsteady grip and the posture slumped, but a ferocious expression on the visible lower half of the individual's face was of singular bloodlust.

Mechanics&Rolls

Torus advances 15 feet and casts the Frostbite cantrip at the wounded Dragonclaw. The enemy fails their save at 3, thus taking 4 cold damage and gaining disadvantage on its first weapon attack to follow before the end of its next turn. They do not quite die, but they aren't all that well off either.

It is now Orchid's turn @Lucius Cypher.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I will be filling in for Torus on the next day if we do not see a post prior to the moment I have the time.