Brian:

I am actually going to backtrack to right before the traveling finished

Brian:

I think OP. I think that if you don't have a divine healer, then taking a serious wound should mean something.

Brian:

You get infinite casts of presdidigitation which solves most problems right off the bat, there are no long term effects, non-lethal damage is free, and so on.

Keenan:

how does infintie casts of presdigitation solve all problems?

Brian:

Broken cart? fixed. Food went rotten and you need to feed an army? fixed. Door is jammed because it's too rotten? fixed.

Brian:

Any regular world, "uhh ohh this things in the way how do you solve it?" problem is gone

Keenan:

thats not most problems, and you still need the food in the first place for the army one

Brian:

I could start quoting the book at you, but that's not why we are here.

Brian:

I want to rewind to a little bit before you arrive in Daysriver.

Brian:

It's your last night out on the road, and you suddenly see the dawn rise way ahead of time.

spirit:

I am Fharlanghn, and I come to deliver a message unto you from the gods.

Brian:

You both know that that name refers to the god of travel by the way.

Spirit:

You have two tests ahead of you. The first lies ahead, in the village of the orcs. The second, lies in your homland, amoung the elves.

Soveliss Sindel:

I really wish that when people speak of things of great importance, that they would actually clearly say what they wish.

Sir Hastings:

I'm sure it will be obvious when we reach the village.

Soveliss Sindel:

Turn around? i think he means that daysriver is another village of orcs and the trial is there

Sir Hastings: (( oh. didn't realize this place was a full fleged village. ))

Brian:

As you begin to walk, you see yet another silver-winged eagle fly overhead.

Keenan:

i really need to alphebatize my skills t make finding the modifier faster

Brian:

Soveless sees that there is something metallic in its beak.

Brian:

It slows down and decends, revealing it to be an amulet, which it then drops in front of you.

Brian:

It is in the shape of a moon ray, and on the back it is inscribed, "Elven lips speak law"

Soveliss Sindel:

I wonder if this is a magical item supposed to help us, or just another sign to help guide us.

Brian:

the silver-winged eagle is the anchient symbol of Correlon Lorethian, in case I need to say that again

Sir Hastings:

Not all jewelry is magical, Soveliss. In fact I've found most of it isn't.

Soveliss Sindel:

I'm aware of that hastings, but this is a amulet given to us by a silver-winged eagle. It was given to us by the great goddes herself for some reason, which is as good of a reason as any for it to be magical

You whisper to Boretos: I have no idea which one of you is the idiot here

Keenan:

sorry, was waiting for you guys to finish typeing, tought you were going to say somethign else

Soveliss Sindel:

Hmm, it says elven lips speak law, if it is magical, maybe it means i have some ability to command others

Soveliss Sindel:

I assume that you're just being sarcastic with me?

Unknown command: "boretos roll bluff". Try /help for a list of commands.

Keenan:

wait, can i just do a sence motivve oon hastings just to try and make sure hes not lying

Sir Hastings:

It appears you are quick to abuse power. How worrying.

Soveliss Sindel:

(I say as drily and sarcastically as elvenly possible) Yes, truly I have gone mad with power, I will make all bow before me, HA HA HA HA

Soveliss Sindel:

Anyway, enough of this, lets head out, if this is magical in anyway, hopefully we'll find out in some manner that won't end up dooming us soon enough.

Brian:

almost immediately, you hear the hubabub of the villagers.

Soveliss Sindel:

I wonder if it's just us, and that they get travelers even less often, or if somehting else is wrong

Brian:

Daysriver is fully under the control of Gorwood and the church

Sir Hastings: (( I'll just eavesdrop on people to see what the fuss is. ))

Soveliss Sindel:

I ask the orc villager 5 if theres somehting wrong, or if there just unused to visitors

Brian:

after overhearing a bit of talk, they all seem to mention what has been going on at the church of Nerull.

Brian:

They aren't specific, mostly just talking about who is to blame.

Soveliss Sindel:

(i ask number 5) Sorry to keep poking at what maight be a somewhat delicate matter, but what is the exact disaster that has occured?

Soveliss Sindel:

Oh, well that's bad(I'm a bit astonished since i assume I've never heard about a god actually leaving before)

Soveliss Sindel:

(well im extremely astonished, but i try not to show most of it

Orc Villager 6:

I was good, ask anyone. My life is ready to end today.

Sir Hastings:

I'm sure it has nothing to do with us. The gods have much to worry about.

Orc Villager 6:

I don't know how you can have so much faith, elf.

Soveliss Sindel:

Well its pretty obcious what the general matter of the test is about now

Soveliss Sindel:

Now we just have to get some idea as to what this is about

Soveliss Sindel:

Nothing? im just saying that clearly, the test mentioned has somehting to do with this

Keenan:

k, just was waiting cause it looked like you were typing, i guess we got direcitons to the church then? it would probably be where we would head next regardless

Brian:

You observe that the church has decended slightly into the ground, as if it melted, and there is a huge crowd around it.

Soveliss Sindel:

I believe my friend is just hoping that you may know more about what happened, and might be able to explain it too us

Orc Priest:

Last night, there was a great eruption, and the temple sank. Right after, the power of the Lord left us.

Orc Priest:

There are countless speculations, and endless gossip, but that's all we know.

Orc Priest:

For now, I only ask that we don't spread around more sin while trying to make sense of our dispair.

Keenan:

are there lirally nothing but orcs in this village just wondering

Brian:

this one seems more orc heavy, but you saw a human or two

Sir Hastings:

Have you considered that it might be prudent to start looking elsewhere for guidance? Nerull is not the only god to be found.

Soveliss Sindel:

sorry, but have you entered the church at all since what occured happened?

Soveliss Sindel:

We were sent on a diplomatic and trading mission, first to gorwood, and then, upon hearing of your village hear, decided that it would be a good idea to visit hear as well.

Keenan:

ok, sorry, just didnt want to zoom all the way out and in again

Soveliss Sindel:

Thats fair, I think we might be worrying people Hastings, let us go from here for a while.

Soveliss Sindel:

(after were reasonably far away i breath a sigh of relief) Glad a mob didn't form after us, I imagine the people might be quite anxious and looking for someone to blame after this

Soveliss Sindel:

But what exactly caused this, and what are we supposed to do about it?

Sir Hastings:

You're asking the wrong person. I just wear the armor.

Soveliss Sindel:

We can't just leave when the gods themselves are telling us to stay here, but I don't think we should head back to the church soon or risk a mob or atleast alot of anger. I'm thinking we wander other areas of the village some more before setting up camp, and then I'll try to investigate some more then

Soveliss Sindel:

Sir Hastings:

I didn't sense any hostility coming from the people, but I won't deny a scouting mission.

Keenan:

so i guess we wander areas away from the church for a while, then if we learn nothign interesting and new, we'll set up camp

Brian:

One is that the priests have gone corrupt, and the other is that it's the work of a mythical figure known as "Torg"

Sir Hastings:

Well, I don't know what a Torg is, but I know that priests have a tendency to... deviate from the straight and narrow.

Soveliss Sindel:

I heard about this torg person from the hunters before, he was apparently some orc that went mad and tried to lead a rebellion against the leaders of the town and the church of nerull

Soveliss Sindel:

Its defintely not an overly rare occurence. Though atleast it can soemtimes be made apparent when the priests can no longer use thier magics

Sir Hastings:

It's clear the rebellion didn't work out. They didn't kill the traitors?

Soveliss Sindel:

I don't remember what they said about killing the traitors, but from how angy they were, I wouldnt be surprised if they killed them all. Also, they did say that Torg managed to escape

Soveliss Sindel:

I wonder if this is smehow related to Torg, but if so, how? how would a mortal do something like this

Brian:

Pretty much everyone else in town is doing the same thing

Keenan:

I think we might set up camp now, then once we eat, I suggest that i go and investigae more while boretos watches the camp

Brian:

there are quite a few, and not just for the scouts around here.

Keenan:

does it look like there are many other people form out of town?

Keenan:

fair enough, was wondering why there would be a number of inns with few travelers

Brian:

This place seems more on the fronteer, while the only folks who would commute into Gorwood were the scouts, who had the special scout houses

Keenan:

anyway, i guess once camp is set up and we've eaten, I head back in to investigate with my cloak on

Brian:

you have learned that in a society with no pubs, the main kind of social gathering is what us moderns would call a barbeque

Brian:

you are invited to one for the special event of rasing spirits

Keenan:

thought hastings was still with me, and that you just said that late

Keenan:

would have made a sence motive check for sure if just alone

Orc Villager 24:

I know this is a great time of spritual hurt, but maybe together we can feel somthing resembling healing.

Keenan:

im not saying anything, asking questions right now would probably be inappropriate, would be better to do such as the barbecue is going on likely

Brian:

everyone starts pulling meat out of their sacks and sticking it over the fire, passing it around and comparing/showing off.

Brian:

A few folks look at you expecting you to pull out your latest hunting conquest

Keenan:

well i did do alot of great hunting, so i probably did have meat to bring

Sir Hastings: (( I'll pull out some jerky. I don't remember this hunting we did. ))

Brian:

but when you whip it out everyone just looks at you and laughs

Soveliss Sindel:

Ah, quite sorry, we didn't bring any fresh meat of our own, we were busy traveling today, and din't know it owuld be expected of us for the barbeque

Orc Villager 26:

What, didcha mum always bring the meat for ya? *crowd laughs*

Sir Hastings:

We've been eating a lot of oats recently. Not so much meat.

Brian:

with that, they drop it, and the conversation moves to lighter topics.

Brian:

You hear the first two theories right off the bat, then you hear a third...

Orc Villager 23:

You know, I don't think we can blame Torg, even if he's still alive.

Orc Villager 23:

Know who I think it is? It's that Damrelli spy who came into the capital and tried to poison all of us.

Keenan:

about how i accidnelty gave wine to some people without being aware that they dindt know what alcohol was and therefore not knowing to not drik alot of it, poisoning them

Orc Villager 23:

The other day, these guys show up from fucking Damriel, saying they want to sell us this drink from their land.

Orc Villager 23:

I don't know where they are now, but I know that Glistar isn't happy with the idea of us being at peace.

Orc Villager 23:

And then days later the church blows up? I mean, come on!

Keenan:

should i admit that i was the person and explain that it was a big misunderstanding, or just not say anything

Sir Hastings:

But how would any mortal revoke Nerull's prescence from the earth entirely?

Guroth:

How do you know the Lord got taken off the Earth altogether?

Orc Villager 19:

And where did you get all that metal armor from?

Soveliss Sindel:

Because we were told such by members of the village

Sir Hastings:

That's just what I heard around town. He's left this village at least.

Orc Villager 25:

Actually, I've never seen you guys before. Why are you here?

Sir Hastings:

A little bit of touring and lending a hand where we can.

Soveliss Sindel:

We are trying to see and learn new things by exploring the world, and as part of that, we are here

Soveliss Sindel:

We are trying to learn more of the wrld, so that we may spread this knowledge with others, so that all can be more knowledgeable of the world around them

Soveliss Sindel:

I assure you good sirs, that we have done nothing wrong, but we will g along if you insist

Soveliss Sindel:

(I motion to stop with the ropes) You greatly outnumber us, and can easily surround us, surely there is no such need for that. You could easily stop us if we tried to run for whatever reason

Brian:

The initial plan seems to be that they will all guard you until the priests come in the morning, but a couple folks just decide to go home instead

Brian:

by the end just a few are sitting around making you sit on the floor.

Sir Hastings:

I'm going to roll up my chain shirt and use it as a pillow as I lie on the ground.

Keenan:

guess ill do the same with my cloak, though i wont fall asleep

Brian:

the mud on the floor, coming in through mysterious cracks in the ground, causes an annoying stench

Brian:

hours pass that seem like days. Several of your guards fall asleep.

Brian:

The tomb suddenly opens by itself, and skeliton warriors arise from their slumber

Keenan:

i forget, are you able to do a different type of damage by taking a -4 to hits

Keenan:

huh, guess i wont bother with my rapier, cause even with my pathetic unarmed damage and to hit when trying to hit unarmed with lethal, its still better then what thier dr would cause my rapier damage to be

Keenan:

oh, then i guess i enter this guys space, hes not hostile hopefully, so should be no problem

Soveliss Sindel:

Goddammit, what are you bastards doing, are you workign with these mosnters?

Keenan:

and apparently pinning is an additional grapple check that has to be made

Keenan:

to set me up for grappling and give me that condition so you can do other stuff to me

Keenan:

once pinned i get fucked and cant do anyhting but try to struggle free, i thik i just cant move or attack with a 2 handed weapon and stuff while grappled, let me check

Brian:

ahh, you are doing the by-the-book grapple. I warn you that is a dark path...

Sir Hastings: (( I'm going to dodge skelly 1 and go total defense ))

Keenan:

if it wasn't the fact that the gods themselves said we need to be here, I would be running so damn fast

Keenan:

since im pretty sure this is the damned trial, im not though:(

Keenan:

and how hard does it look like it would be to grab our stuff

Brian:

The pews (and attached benches) don't allow enough space to physically move though

Brian:

graping the stuff would be a full round action that provokes if you want to grab it all.

Soveliss Sindel:

Damnit, I think we have to retreat hastings, these bastards are actively helping these monsters

Keenan:

i guess i try to tumble again, though i feel sorry for hastings, cause i doubt he'll do so well in his positon

Brian:

The orc by the door presses her back against it to try and stop you.

Keenan whispers: i am an utter idiot, i purposely didnt give up my daggers, but i then forgot fast:(

Keenan:

but when i would ahve done this he wouldnt ahve been in my square

Sir Hastings: (( Now dodging skelly 5, I will jump over this pew. ))

Brian:

so, you can chose to spend 10 movement to just hustle over it

Sir Hastings: (( I jumped knowing I could climb over the pew instead. ))

Sir Hastings: (( did you know a 5 foot step costs no actions? ))

Sir Hastings: (( that's when you right click>arrange>to the top ))

Sir Hastings: (( wait, do I need to be trained in that first? ))

Sir Hastings: (( and donning a shield is part of a move action ))

Keenan:

as a level 3 unarmored rogue vs a barbarian, i guess this is to be expected

Keenan:

first time i have ever seen someoen stabilize on there own

Keenan:

the thing was, they were so damn reasonable in the last village, that i thought we could jsut talk our way out

Brian:

I suspect part of the next campaign will be investigating just what happened to this party

Keenan:

i don't think im good enough at playing evil characters anyway, even if i was hard undercover, i think maybe i should have slipped a bit

Brian:

See, in the situation you were in, your secret identity didn't matter.

Brian:

The campaign of intrigue I had planned was out the window when Wesley and Chris left

Keenan:

i guess brian could decide they dont kill us in our unconscious state, but i doubt it

Brian:

...what exactly is your plan? The undead want to kill you, and the orcs aren't willing to risk their lives to save you.

Brian:

So you wouldn't know this, but they take your bodies back into the tomb with them, and nobody dares open the tomb again to discover your final fate.

Keenan:

guess that anger was just a excuse to make sacrifices out of us

Boretos:

And we didn't get any rest since the beginning of the session?

Brian:

I assume we counted right last time, and this is the wee hours of the morning on the day that you came in, so you didn't sleep this session so far, but if you want you may take the lvl in hp and try to fight on.

Brian:

Soveless, I'm sorry but you were still one hit from going down, and there was a level 2 barb boss to fight.

Brian:

I mean, at the end of the day, if we aren't ready to let the party lose, why did we start the combat, you know?

Keenan:

any idea what type of characters we should make for next one?

Boretos:

I just thought that would've made a great cinematic moment, had I come out on top

Brian:

I first need to figure out what people and time commitment we have for next one

Keenan:

if your luck was as good as my 5e bards is abd, you would ahve

Brian:

And knowing that you can fail will make Goblin VI all the more badadd

Keenan:

eh, stuff happens, and no human can perfectly predict others

Boretos:

If you had it planned before the barbeque, then all's fair.

Brian:

Yeah, this was definitely an overpowered encounter. But 16 skellys isn't an absurd challange level.

Brian:

I admit I was still fuzzy on how many skellys to bring in. Had you camped outside they still would have showed up.

Brian:

I admit I forgot about the damage, but even then that is consiquence of what happened before.

Keenan:

dude, eveything your character has ever done was tempting fate

Keenan:

your guy is the least genre savvy character ive ever seen

Brian:

I assumed you guys would break off pew legs or something and you would have a club fight

Boretos:

Everyone knows you never take your armor off in dnd. Sleep in it and hope nobody remembers the penalty

Brian:

Again, if you didn't try to escape or get the weapons, the orcs will not intervene

Boretos:

I thought we weren't allowed to touch the pews for religious reasons. That held me back.

Brian:

The orcs wouldn't like it, but the redneck orcs weren't ready to die for it.

Keenan:

yeah, anyway, I guess I'll see you guys next time:) my schedules is pretty free so you dont have to plan around me much, just tell me ahead of tie so i can plan around it

Brian:

the big advantage you had in this is that the orcs had no training or coordination, and were scared to death of the undead, who in turn did not care about the orcs or their goals

Brian:

Yeah, if I play my cards right it will be revealed why they hate you so much.

Brian:

Remeber all the things that happened in this story. None of it was just random; there is a grand design.

Boretos:

You better have the next story soon, because I will forget the small stuff