The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Through the swarm of beating wings and incessant shrieks, Brannor charged full-fledged with his weapon at the ready. The bats however, were far more a problem than the aspiring paladin had ever imagined them to be; the world of the cave a new, strange, mystery and all that came with it. The moment he set to strike down the stirge, which bumbled and hummed among the other creatures, the swing went awry as it easily darted out of the way. Such a sizable weapon was destructive against larger foes, felling them with its hungering edge, but something so deft as the blood-sucking monster handily dodged the blow.

Sweeping aside more of the bats, the hunter continued to track the creature, hopeful that it would soon become distracted and dispatched. After all, the others had seemingly made the glaring error of diving down to combat the rest of the group's fellows and met their end there with little time and effort. The last one, which remained aloft and harassing was just a matter of when, not if. If it so happened once that was done the tide of fluttering, furred, winged bodies was over, they could delve deeper into the cave...

Effects

Brannor moves up to 30ft to attack the next stirge and presumably misses on a 7 to hit the creature with his sword. If it provokes an attack of opportunity from him, he will take it in the hopes that he can slay the creature.

@Hekazu@Ryonara@Gordian Nought@Lucius Cypher@Norschtalen

Cat/Big Cat/Warriors inspired

I am not so certain why you would assume that would be the outcome, @Tsukai. All the same, I believe we should continue in the open with the discussion in the hopes that it might garner more interest and comment from potential members.

For myself, the fact that they are sentient is enough as well. I am not so certain something as closed as a gladiatorial setting would work well, I suspect it would narrow matters down far too much. I would say to pose something on a larger scale. Since there is magic realism involved and the goal is to play actual felines, mayhap it would be wise to try and define just what that is like.

For example, is it just these felids? Is it all felines? All carnivores? All mammals? So on and so forth. I believe it would make more sense if it were just a setting where the various, greater and lesser alike, were intelligent so as to keep the focus on them and the human element.

Cat/Big Cat/Warriors inspired

Through all the effort you have ahead of you in this, you did not consult me or seek me out, @Tsukai? You know well I would be interested, perhaps the most interested of any on the entirety of the forum. As a result you have my attention.

From the sound of what you intend, you intend something more cooperative among the players' characters while also existing in a human world, which immediately calls to mind a canon alike The Pride of Baghdad. Contrarily you seem potentially interested in conflict among the players, which brings first and potentially most important question forward.

What is your own personal vote for? A world with humans and felines in a sort of magical deviation? I say I prefer that narrative, speaking for myself. It would be more interesting to me if the characters existed around people, even if people were say, never the focus.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Is there any way to determine where the last stirge is, @Hekazu? I am presuming a Perception (Wisdom) check to try and spot it or is it within reach of the paladin to strike at the creature and hopefully clear it from the air?

🌌 Ultraverse: Strifes and Triumphs. (Superhero RP, Always Open). 🌌

Los Angeles, California
Obscure Alley
@Prosaic@Count Cuddles

"Are you as concerned with the idea of being watched as I am? It is a very ominous prospect and one I am not keen to."

The Frenchman was not wrong to feel that subtle, uncomfortable rake across his subconscious; it was that primal element, that ambient and arcane, really unknowable if one was to best summarize it, experience for being watched without any eyes seeming to be on them. In some ways it was likely the same sort of mechanism that gave people the perceptions of hauntings, that pervasive discomfort. Also the very same kind that pulled the ears of the lurking tiger forward, as if attracted by the conversation, then snapped them back until they were flush with the rest of the sizable animal.

Those idling paws that sat at the lip of the rooftop overlook tensed their toes, each fleshy pad gripping more firmly the brick. The Predator at this point could not help its sizable curiosity and was confident that with one less potential foe, assuming this went so wrong, its odds of escape were better. Evasion was one of many talents it possessed, both innately and through mighty thought, but overconfidence would be potentially dangerous. It knew it needed to know, so it found itself down the face of the wall, rear legs kicking it off like a medalist swimmer.

As though an animal decidedly longer than a man was tall hadn't just sailed through the air, the tiger landed mere feet away at the depths of the alley. The only thing that stirred was a puddle, which gave a faint splash. As its shallow pool rocked with little waves, a strange phenomena began to manifest. What first was clear was that something left... tracks? Perhaps that was the most adequate description, no less ones that were coming closer, ones that at in this same time stirred the puddle once again ever so slightly. Then they stopped.

The abruptness of the stop quite plausibly was tugging on those previously present notes of ambient horror; that somehow in the daylight overcast only by the buildings, the sensation of being watched had metamorphized into the presence of something unseen being right there. Not only was the foreigner right, they were terribly right. Chance would have it that it was not some sort of inebriated daydream warping perception and reality either, so even such a hopeful fantasy was sailed clear off the face of the earth.

There after came the seeming suddenness of a tiger, standing right in the very place the closest steps had been. How, why, when the tiger had appeared was not even within real registration, other than the fact it was suddenly there; all five-hundred pounds of orange, black, and white feline. Upon its face was perhaps one of the more animated looks a cat could offer, let alone one of that size and so uncomfortably human. It looked upon Eclater for a disquietingly long period, as short as it realistically was, before on to the heavily costumed Faultline wherein the expression became less severe.

"Well, you weren't wrong to be."

It replied, without so much as a slight twitch of its muzzle, not even down to the whisker.

Post a random fact about yourself.

Out of all the roleplaying game classes that tend to irk me the most, the worst of my experiences has consistently been with bards. They seem to adopt, courtesy of their players typically, the worst of the traits; the magical obsession but real lack of understanding of warlocks, the typically nebulous leaning toward sporadic, "random", or even evil elements of greedy rogues, the spellcasting smugness, speaking charm, and silver tongue of sorcerers, and the bravado of a terribly outmatched fighter who will fight anyone who snubs their swordsmanship. I am not sure what effect pulls this amalgam of madness together but I have yet to be at an actual table where a bard was an asset; online I oddly haven't seen this phenomena. Seems I do not possess the kind of luck otherwise.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

It appears we are still left awaiting, at least for the time being.

Give Me Your Favorite Quote(s).

"Cats have gnosis to a degree that is granted to few bishops."

Carl Van Vechten

Post a random fact about yourself.

I cannot sing neither can I hold a tune or keep in time to music. Music at large is a mystery to me as I find myself entertained by it but incapable of exercising any amount of agency on it that would be reflective or meaningful.

Cara's Originally Titled OoC Hangout Thread ♥ (Still)

We received snow as well off of the range here and over the course of two days. Being alongside said mountains too means that this snow has all but come to thaw already under the blinding rays of the sun. It went as quickly as it came, which is disappointing. I could do with a few days of nothing but snowfall.