The Grey Dust

🦄 Duplicity - D&D Style Fantasy Rp Adventure (Completed)

Thomas Richard Harrison

Location: The Crossed Swords, Lair of Goody-Goodies.
Interacting with: Satilla, and then the rest.

An alchemical silvering potion then was it? There was such a potion to produce the transmutative effects Satilla was going for, although this may be an inferior substitution. Ideally they'd be armed to the teeth with anti-undead weaponry. Silver, holy water, and the like. But time was short, and the dead were restless. They were off to see the wizard, or rather necromancer, some dark lord of the undead? An ancient power that has risen once more? One who was building an army to invade the realm of the living? From what Thomas had seen of the exploding undead, it was quite an interesting thought. To set minions with denotative charges, suicide shamblers, what magical art was this? Raising the dead was one thing, but the ability to detonate them may have been a secondary spell, or even some alchemical trick. There was a potion for pretty much anything after all these days. For in a realm of magic, it was not how is it possible, but rather how it was done.

"Oh, I could teach you some basic alchemy Satilla," Thomas mentioned still grinding away at the silver bits while listening to the rest of the team mull about the tower. As long as they stuck together like sovereign glue they should make it out alive. Teamwork was crucial to these things, and hopefully the seven of them would be enough, even with one just recently recovered, and two not very useful folks to be standing on the sidelines with each other. Supports, as they'd be called. Hopefully they would catch the Necromancer off guard, but it was unlikely, the tower might be warded and watched over by magics unknown. Yet what a grand adventure it would be, sure beats going around taking care of small monster problems like kobold infestations and goblin raids. To have an actual target and mystery would surely be a great experience for the boy. And if they found any of the necromancer's books, Thomas would jump on the study of the dark arts, for educational purposes of course. Although it was theoretically possible to channel the powers of the moonlight to summon hordes of the undead... "Hrm, I'll go and have a look then, the main issue is the gem and the fire scarab. Probably going to be pricy."

Keystone was taking the lead here, although Thomas was always confused as to who was technically in charge, between the trio of Keystone, Sana, and Kyra. Didn't Kyra call for this assembly? And yet it looked like Keystone called the shots into order. Either way it seemed like they had some time to gather themselves and their things together, Thomas pretty much already done so with his daily preparations. Spells at the ready, although if they needed light maybe it would be wise to take a few minutes in the sunlight to get a cast. Either way, it was time to... Be Prepared!

"Anyone think it'd be worth it to get some sorts of bright light? 200 grams of purified alchemical reagents won't be cheap I reckon. Else I'll try and see if we can work something out with the shop owner, bring back something rare or somewhat from the tower for em." Asked to the general group as to whoever wanted to chime up and make the executive decision that Thomas was going to ask Kyra.

D&D 5e - Lost Mine of Phandelver

@Samdragonx
Adding up the stats from the sheet as is, you've actually underplayed powered your stats a bit.
Try a standard array or use the last 5 points you have.

Assuming GM allows the stat edit.

@Regitnui
I think the Standard array works as well, both should total up to the 27 points from the point buy.

D&D 5e - Lost Mine of Phandelver

@Samdragonx

Uh...
With an Int score of 4...
Like the minimum Int score for an animal with sentience and self awareness is 3.
How Bar managed to understand the concept of being paid for escort duty is weird.
Or how he understood that "escort" could also mean "prostitute"

How you managed to get an Int score of 4 is beyond me, I don't see any stat modifiers that would suggest this.
Point buy system allows the minimum score of 8 which I think is what we were supposed to use.

D&D 5e - Lost Mine of Phandelver

"M" the silent

"M" the silent

Reference Picture

D&D 5e - Lost Mine of Phandelver

"M" the silent

"M" the silent

Reference Picture

Here's my character. I hope he is accepted, he should be interesting to play as he is a psionic mute.
I'd say he'd take the 10gp job for the Orphans. I probably won't reveal his psionics to the group until later.

D&D 5e - Lost Mine of Phandelver

I would like to reserve spot.

Going with a PSION :D

Tales of Maoria: A 5E D&D Adventure

@The Mighty Hero

My condolences once again.
Steel through. Stiff upper lip.

🦄 Duplicity - D&D Style Fantasy Rp Adventure (Completed)

Thomas Richard Harrison

Location: The Crossed Swords, Lair of Goody-Goodies.
Interacting with: "Kyra's Angels"

A silver coin? Satilla was manually filing down a silver coin with a knife. A process that was rather labor intensive given the nature of the tool used, the shavings would have to done carefully into the soft metal. What percentage of the silver currency was pure silver was also to be questioned. Yet Thomas had his training in the alchemical arts, and knew a few tricks to extract elemental compounds from raw materials. Traditionally it was easier for an alchemist to introduce a sample of metal to aqua fortis. Impure aurum, argent, or cupric in particular would be dissolved in the corrosive liquid, although pure gold usually required aqua regia. And then the extract taken to a flame to be boiled down until the water is driven out and what remains is a fine purified silver powder. Unfortunately aqua fortis is difficult to safely store for transport and relatively easier to make on the spot by mixing oil of vitriol with saltpeter, then continually distilling the reactive solution to obtain a concentrated amount of aqua fortis. However Thomas had no oil of vitriol, nor readily available saltpeter. As such reaching into his satchel, the sorcerer produced his spellbook, pestle and mortar, and the small alchemy knife he had.

Grinding away every few moments automatically and absently at the coin, scoring and scratching the surface with ridges to get the slivers of silver shavings unto the mortar while Kyra spilled the beans. Graves and Caves, Towers and Farms, the four or five places to be left to explore. Of course their orcs had mentioned exploring the graveyard the other day, and Cyneburg had mentioned finding nothing earlier, so that could be ruled out. And the other bit of information was hazy at best, something about an amulet that was probably enchanted or something by the sounds of it, something associating itself with stone and rocks and as Keystone suggested, not offering too much insight. Although visions were often important, maybe Thomas could sit in with Sana on some meditation to get a clearer view of the object, connecting to the greater universe was not an easy task. But the young boy was pretty much used to doing it everyday...


"I don't think we should split up. Even with daylight hours, its not like necromancers are exclusively active at night. The attacks are, but if we stumble into a lair... Plus the locations aren't all that close to each other, and we don't have a way to contact each other quickly do we in case of anything happening at one site? So there's always that danger that one group doesn't make it, and by the time we realize it..." Thomas mused on considering the opinions of everyone. "I'm siding with Keystone on this one, we should try the tower first, who knows what old secrets are lying around there. And magey types have a thing for towers. Thomas remarked at the strange associations spellcasters had with phallic buildings. Probably had something to do with reaching a height of greater learning, able to lord over the rest of the common grounded folk from a place on high, or the staff or wand was merely the beginning of their overcompensation and the tower was the pinnacle of being the most glorious spellslinger. Either way having said his piece, his fingers running through the pages as Thomas scanned his book for that recipe. Notes on spellcrafting, various doodles of fantastic beasts and where they are located, descriptions of common alchemical plants and animal parts... And finally potion recipes:


Sunshine-in-a-bottle:
1 x prepared crystal (see notes below ), finely ground.
1 x fire scarab carapace, powdered.
100g of purified white phosphorous (or 1kg of unrefined phosphorous)
50g of purified yellow sulfur (or 500g of unrefined sulfur)
50g of purified saltpeter (or 500g of unrefined saltpeter)

Crystal should be of decent quality, color of crystal determines color of light.
Attune crystal to source of non-magical light for 10 minutes before grinding.
Mix ground crystal, powdered beetle and phosphorus in thick glass bottle.
Add mixture of sulfur and saltpeter prepared in a separate bowl.
Keep ingredients dry. Keep away from open flame.
Shake and expose to gentle heating to activate.

Unfortunately Thomas had none of the items, on hand. Sulfur, phosphorus and saltpeter should be readily available at any alchemy story worth their... Salts... But a crystal would be more difficult, probably a quartz shard, and grinding it down was another issue. Then there was the fire scarab that was needed. Not a living one, although those usually roamed the desert sands, not temperate villages. Unless there was a collector of sorts, they'd be hard pressed to find such an ingredient. But making a potion from scratch was usually more cost-effective than buying one from some alchemist who would charge them an arm and a leg for something even Thomas could make with his basic kit, although his glassware may be too thin for the purposes the potion and may need to purchase something more sturdy. After all, saltpeter, sulfur, and a source of carbon like the powdered fire scarab was pretty much a recipe for... Black powder.

"Uh, Anyone know if there's an alchemy shop around, I've found the Recipe for sunshine-in-a-bottle, but I'm afraid I don't have all the ingredients. Plus I'd need a bit of powdered fire scarab... Somewhat defeated in his efforts, Thomas took to the pestle to crush up the silver to a finer grit, rotating and pressing along for Satilla's experimental potion. Hopefully he was being helpful enough. Although he'd really like to do that complex process of purifying silver powder, assuming there was an alchemist's shop, or even a place that sold rocks and minerals.

Tales of Maoria: A 5E D&D Adventure

@rush99999

Posting is not an At-Will ability.

Ah DnD jokes...

Tales of Maoria: A 5E D&D Adventure

---

Kethan the Librarian

---

"Arcane Locks can be suppressed by knowing the bypass words. But save your charms Ms. Imlotel. I fear the Mayor may need the touch of a beautiful lady, should he fail to listen to the reason of Gilean." So they were using names now? Too little too late, she had already named him before the crowd. But fortunately he was no one of great fame, only a temple librarian, one of many humble titles. A bookkeeper, a custodian of leather tomes, someone to mend and keep them in good order. Some librarian preferred to use the mystic arts to restore torn pages and shabby spines, but Kethan took each task with a personal touch. The text masterfully handwritten with his steady hand, matched to the same typeface used to demonstrate his training in calligraphy. One of the few who still worked with leaves of gold to gild the illuminated manuscripts, and prepare vellum to be inked. Indeed he was old, and perhaps being a bit of a relic to these younger folk who were more dexterous and stronger than he was, and probably more good looking without the touch of time across their brows and eyes. Tessa was far more brilliant too, a keener mind and memory. Yet he was wiser than all of them, advising his companion to charm the Mayor instead into release his captives, rather than expend such an enchantment spell on a mere manor hand to glean possible entrance to the manor. Of course as he suggested, Kethan too had ways to attempt to do the same. The Power of Gilean compels you."Worry not about your skill child, come, please do not make an old man chase after you." Dispelling concerns as his old head gave a nod of a job well done to the unnamed spellsword. His hand reaching out towards Ada to gently tap her forehead and transfer some knowledge to guide her hand

A peal of thunder.
Was it thunder in the rain?
No, just sound and fury.

And What was there to say? Kethan just shook his head with the Barbarian's crude methodology. This goliath will get them all killed. But with the arcane lock dissolved, it was much easier to bypass the doorway with brute strength, smashing down the portalway atop two unfortunate guards in a raging fury. Those poor souls ill-prepared as Kethan to deal with a mad dog, barking mad into an otherwise empty room. Did he expect a hoard of enemies waiting for him? Some grand battle inside a manor? This was no battlefield, but a domus, a place for civilized people to plot against one another with fake smiles and hidden agendas. With a sigh, Kethan retracted his offered digits, turning to see the damage done, the doors fell down with a crash, revealing the interior of the manor. Not the most elegant solution, and surely if there were any guards, they would come rushing for to defend the manor from intruders. Assuming they are being paid well enough to do so, given the state of things, maybe they were barely being paid to keep all by the Mayor in a deficit leading to servitude."Subtly is not that one's strength..."

"What are you doing?!" A hastily snapped exclamation, at the unnamed one amongst them and Tessa as they assault the unfortunate guards. guards floored by the door collapsing, as they had rushed to investigate their unexpected and uninvited guests. "These men could very well be coerced into service. And an unwilling servant is our best ally in finding this man's daughter. Why did you both assault them so quickly? They may be victims of the Mayor just as well." Chastised by an old man, truly getting cranky at the folly of fools. Always thinking quickly, but not deeply. The world needed more deep thinkers, or perhaps not, for they were a dangerous lot as not all thought benevolently. But the immediate possible threat was over, and it seemed no more guards marched themselves in to investigate, it was after all quite the downpour, and it was not uncommon for a storm to brew. What the heavens curse you with, the divines also bless you with.

A practiced hand checked the carotids, a finger checked for breath. They were still alive, though unconscious and sandwiched between the ground and the portcullis. In such a state it would be easy to finish them with, but it was a dishonorable act, and Kethan hoped to use the good nature of their warriors to stay death's hand from taking perhaps two innocent lives. "They will live, I suggest we refrain from alerting everyone of our arrival." Rising with his staff, supporting his weight as his knees visibly shook beneath the robe. How he made it this far on his knees was almost as impressive as breaking down a door. "We should split up and look for clues. We must find evidence of the Mayor's practices, as well as where your Daughter is." Walking over to the warlock and Ada, Kethan naturally divided six into two groups of three, with that rogue somewhere in the manor surely to be encountered later. Assuming he didn't loot the place dry. "I will accompany the elvens upstairs towards the Mayor's study, a man can be judged by his collection of books... And where on those shelves the grey dust settles thick."

"Ms. Imlotel, you know where I will be, a message should suffice if we are needed. And you will have the company of two strong men if needed. Do try to keep the Goliath from destroying a loadbearing wall as we shall be on the upper floors." A nod to Tessa as Kethan's suggested a plan to cover more ground in less time. After all time was indeed a factor here, splitting the group seemed to suffice given the skill the hexblade had with his weapon to act as a guard for the archer and Kethan. Plus the folks who cared to investigate the Mayor and test their wits may find searching the man's study to be more fruitful than investigating the light peeking through the bottom of the door in the far hallway. Should anything happen, Tessa could contact Kethan with a message. "Come, I will need your blade, and your lockpicks." Starting up the stairway to walk towards the Mayor's study, as the aging librarian requested Ada and Arius to accompany him according to his plans.

Mechanics

Medicine check to gauge unconscious guards: 20.
Also passive perception 23 to search the Mayor's study if/when they arrive there.