The Harbinger of Ferocity

Post a random fact about yourself.

I do not regret being a Battlefield Airman even if the greater element of the branch rightfully earned its tongue-in-cheek name among its sister services.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

What other plans available are these, @Hekazu? At the very least, not to say I am disinterested in the voiced primary alternative, rather I am deeply curious. While I would like to pursue the theme of Ashkar Brannor's character - a green knight with a heavy, supernatural, animal leaning - I could be possibly persuaded otherwise. I have no issue with other official modules or even continuing with this one, despite knowing the gist of the narrative and some of its major encounters, simply because from party to party they will vary wildly, but also because I am just as I mentioned earlier, curious.

At the moment I am running the Eberron module on a Discord channel off the site and as much as it pains me to not be a player over Dungeon Master, if it is in the interest of @Hekazu and the rest here, be them @Ryonara, @Norschtalen, and @Lucius Cypher, I could take up the reins. It occurred to me we could pass them around from time to time if that somehow would further alleviate issues, assuming the other alternatives do not work as desired or that simply one is tired of having to run the game themselves. Truly all I ask in the end is the effective experience level of the characters are not lost - I am so dreadfully tired of not just restarting characters but so too starting them over from low levels of play. Not to be confused with low magic and grim or gritty style of fantasy, of course.

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

Vah'lux founded purchase with the hardened shin of her stone fleshed leg, cracking a powerful kick under the brunt of the great rat that was preparing to maul the half orc. The inner fury, the rage in her at the surface, the world went narrow and threatened to go grey from the intensity of her focus, set to kill the verminous monster over little else. All the frustration of weeks upon weeks in another prison after near a whole lifetime in another carried through her in a flash as her strike lifted the rat off its feet. It wailed in surprise although hardly for long as the blow crumpled its body around it, pushing the air out of its lungs. It flew the few feet into the filthy cove's wall nearby, crashing into the soft earth.

Beaumont, sword in hand, had swung moments before and was recovering his posture - as was Gorosk - but it was neither of them who managed the killing blow. Instead it was the stooped over figure who tried to right herself afterward. A hammer rung out afterward and an arrow behind her, the figures moving against the last rat signalling its death as well was followed by rushing steps. Backs lit now by the fire, they had killed a sizable force, which the rats were best described as. Not organized or orchestrated as an army but cohesive and numerous enough that they may well have been by any animal standard.

Despite the dripping blood and battered lot they were, one last chamber awaited them...

Effects

Vah'lux slays the large rat, with Tracan and de Brey managing to kill the final small rat. The party gains 225 Experience Points for their trouble and ending combat. Gorosk is disabled and at exactly 0 hit points. As a reminder, Beaumont has two Potions of Cure Light Wounds on him provided by the priest and it may be a wise time to use them.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

Post a random fact about yourself.

There are a family of magpies who have decided to live near my lair in the past month and regularly they awaken me with their distinctive squawking.

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

Ragged claws tearing into his back, the orc-blooded man on the path of self-perfection turned with a single swing leading his body. He acted before the horrendous creature could react, clobbering the beast square in the side of its head. But this time, as they spun together haphazardly from its reckless charge, the momentum carried with the overgrown monster taking away the power of his blow. When Gorosk came to strike the rat again, already was it reeling backward, feet tearing at the ground as it slid beside him and out of his reach. It hissed at him, dark eyes backlit by the glow of the lantern an the torch one of the prisoners' lot had kept bringing with them, throwing on the ground each time danger revealed itself.

Tracan's rage, however, manifest itself from the lingering electricity into the air into out and out flames. With a strong imaginary draw upon her bow, the static in the air was snuffed out with a snap and grew into mental fire. A bolt of flame shot from her fingers as she guided the shot like she would an arrow, a sudden blast of pointed fire hitting past the monk and impacting the rat. It screamed, for lack of any better word, in terror at the fire and likely startled Gorosk by the second of two random appearances of what seemed to be magic from the elf. Elves were magical beings, of course, and shots of magical fire or lightning were none out of the question, but this was strange; the intense heat was more powerful in mind than it was flesh, perhaps why the rat was more mortified and panicked than it was before.

Winding back with his hammer, sweeping around him defensively, one of the young ratlings was clipped by the lip of its steel head. It staggered for a moment, shaking off the delay, only to see its immediate demise. Beaumont's eyes fixed with its own as it drew a breath and tried to lunge but it was too late. Before it could register, the man's blow pierced its skull with a thrust, killing it instantaneously and perhaps with the most mercy in any one strike delivered this day. The point of the blade penetrated past, striking the cool, damp earth now wet with blood, and the paladin withdrew without issue, exhaling sharply and repeatedly, taxed by the chaos of the fighting. Quentin looked to him briefly, wiping the sweat out of his own eyes and where his perspiration clung to his now matted hair, only to see his chance; one of the two remaining rats turned to face the other human, only for it to be pulverized in a cracking blow by the fighter who nodded to his compatriot. What it had avoided in Vah'lux's axe strike, it did not in the warhammer's wrath.

The last rat, of the smaller variety, shrilled louder and in panic. Its feeble clawing, biting, thrashing came at all of them as best it could yet each time it failed. It would end here in this dark, dank burrow, likely without ever having terrorized the land above - a rarity in this dark green realm. The huge rat, despite this, gave one final effort and found terrible purchase in its frenzied fight for survival. Claws, teeth, thrashing, it beat and bloodied the lone man by it within an inch of his life, sending him reeling to one knee before he almost collapsed. This frontier, this so-called Savage Realm was merciless and brutal, and holding on by a thread as he was, Gorosk knew that better than most first hand now.

Effects

Beaumont instantly overkills one of the least rats, dropping it dead. Tracan uses her Wild Surge to empower an Energy Ray, this time fire, and badly wounds the last large dire rat. Quentin de Bray kills another small rat, leaving only one left. It attacks but fails to hit the killer of its second to last cohort. The large dire rat scores and confirms a critical hit against Gorosk, dealing 6 points of damage, this leaves the monk at exactly 0 hit points.

Gorosk is now disabled until he reaches 1 or more hit points or goes to -1 or less and goes unconscious, meaning he can only take a single standard action each turn. If he takes any action but a move action, he suffers 1 point of damage and drops to -1, going unconscious, after performing the act due to physical strain.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

In essence one of the notable benefits of the yaun-ti, just without the baggage of the serpentine race that comes with it, instead for that of a satyr. At least some number of the world knows not all the fey are evil creatures, so that is beneficial. I am just not too familiar myself with the reality of what that means in this setting specifically. I suspect it cannot be too much worse than the outcome of having a purported weretiger about.

Post a random fact about yourself.

At the lateral commissure of both eyes, the canthus, I feature scarification. Oddly if not befittingly, this has amplified them and is not dissimilar to the "cat eye" effect associated with the cosmetics of the ancient Egyptians.

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

With a crackle of lightning the danced over her finger tips, Tracan drew back the string of her bow. This time no arrow sat knocked upon the sinew, instead just the faint arcs that carried from her. Her weapon as her focus, her eyes shining with bright malice and might she loosed the invisible shot and through her, through the bow, fired a blinding beam of blue-white light which lanced the fleeing rat. It had flown past Gorosk with speed that he could only register afterward and struck the fleeing creature through the flank of its chest, leaving a black marring on the fur where it charred flesh. It tumbled under its own skittering weight and rolled to a stop, spasming a few times where it had died in its den.

The elf's shocking outburst faded and the hum of energy so faintly around her dispersed as she grimaced in frustration, even at her own success. Brushing her mane aside and our of her face, her intense and angered focus settled on the other large rat, cut short by the man piercing one of the young rats and the other woman cleaving one in twain with brutal ease. At least its death was swift, forceful, final, rather than being left to languish of being pummeled and stabbed. Another of the lesser vermin was struck, this one tossed aside with a low sweeping strike by de Brey, wherein the mighty hammer cracked upon its skull and sent it toppling end over end into a side of the wall, bleeding from various openings upon its face and more than certainly dead outright.

The remaining three least rats and their greater counterpart changed targets and tactics, this time perhaps having realized their onslaught despite being so frenzied was largely pointless against foes who were seemingly more steel than flesh. The large rat, no longer immediately challenged by the giant, the orc, or one of the men, broke in a sprint after the monk. It leapt at his exposed back and as it collided with him, spinning them both around, it clawed at and bloodied his back. The other rats, what survived of them, squealed and hurried with panicked frenzy at what seemed to be their abandonment, immediately snipping and biting at anything in reach. This included the hand upon the axe which was being pulled back from the slain rat Vah'lux had finished, getting nipped and bloodied in the process.

Effects

Tracan uses her Wild Surge wilder ability to empower an Energy Ray. Her psionic touch attack hits the badly wounded, fleeing dire rat, very narrowly managing to kill it. Quentin de Brey, meanwhile, attacks another small rat and crushes it to death with his hammer; much like how Vah'lux cuts one in two after it was wounded by Beaumont.

The last advanced dire rat charges Gorosk and attacks him for 4 piercing damage as it bites and claws at him from behind. One of the three remaining small vermin attacks Vah'lux, threatening a critical hit but failing, instead only managing to bite her for 1 point of damage. The other two both attack Beaumont yet fail badly. It appears the rats are now randomly attacking.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

Post a random fact about yourself.

The other day I captured a beautiful sapphire Aztec dancer damselfly, snatching it out of the air gently and containing it within my grasp. I returned it to the outdoors from where it had came, having wondered into my lair by some happenstance. Holding it, I examined it thoroughly and it was none bothered by its brief captivity, content to clean itself and stare up at me with wondrous globe-like eyes while we communed. When all was said and done, it lifted off from me and flew back into the world that I had returned it to.

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

Despite having delayed her shot in the hopes the rats would present a strong opportunity for the elven outsider's arrow to pierce their hide, her loosed shot strayed clear over both the larger beasts. Her wild eyes simmered with anger that was barely constrained, her knuckles going tight around the bow's neck with a menacing squeeze. She was equally very much done with the tide of vermin and their filthy lair, not because she resented them, rather because she was so pressed from every foreseeable angle to do this; none of it was as she wanted and she just wanted out. Like a pot set to boil over from stoking flames, her emotions were getting the better of her again, her ignoring the brutal crushing the fighter leveled upon a rat who strayed idle for too long. One moment it was there, the next it was pulverized under the steel head of the mace.

Wounded, disoriented, and now carved into its back with an axe, the rat screamed in wounded terror. The horrible, shrill noise it gave off that only a portion of their ears could take in was a rainbow more dreadful on countless other levels. It sprung back, almost taking the axe out of the barbarian's hand, ripping itself free and turning tail to run as best it could before it could be carved apart by the steely blades of its humanoid foes. The other rat came to against the once more wounded man, gnawing at him but failing, flailing, and scurrying back to where it sat up on its haunches - whiskers twitching, nose almost assuredly drinking in the scent of blood. Whatever plan it was formulating, if any, was almost assuredly not in favor of any of the expeditionaries here.

The twirling, twisting tide of young rats that nipped, bit, and clawed at Quentin de Brey only scattered for a split second once his strike ended one of their lot in a flash. It was brutally swift and wonderfully executed, a blow that would have killed most men and given others pause, but these creatures had no appreciation for the finer abilities of a professional man-at-arms. Their upset attacks harmlessly washed off his heavy armor like rain upon stone, giving him an opportunity, or so he hoped, to find the next target who dallied just a bit too long between their incessant swarming.

Effects

The badly wounded large dire rat provokes an attack of opportunity from Beaumont, Gorosk, and Vah'lux when it tries to flee but makes its escape. The other large foe fails to find purchase in its attack, as do the lesser rats all fail their attacks against their target of de Brey.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex