Chapter 19: Endless Nights

[Joe]

Streko turns to Adamant and shakes his head. "About all I have left is my ability to turn the undead. Perhaps, Histra, you can ask our friend if she can find a place to go away from the encroaching demon, some place she can hide while we dispose of him, some place my work will not harm her?"

Streko will then take his place next to Calirataia. He removes his sickle and a lone die,the two objects he feels most comfortable wielding in battle, from the handy haversack ever-present across his shoulders and upper back.

[Dave B.]

"I know we're running out of time, but I wonder if that vapor is flammable? If it is, the fiend and its minions would have to pass through the burning vapor to get to us. Can anyone do a quick test?" Shorak says, then moves to the position Melethos indicated, his boomerang in one hand and the rope of entanglement in the other.

[Ken]

Belarin moves into position as Melethos indicates. "I think we should pass on igniting the gas," he says to Shorak. "That gas runs all through the lower decks! If it is flammable, we won't need magic to travel to another plane."

[Jeff]

Histra complies, and a moment later, her wraith rises into view through the floorboards. She keeps it only a short distance away. Histra turns to Streko. "How far do they need to be to avoid your Turning?"

To the party as a whole, she says, "I do not know what Relwalyn will do. She would see the gaunt destroyed, but cannot master herself at all times."

Mel's arrangement had a couple of people sharing spaces, so here's a similar arrangement I worked out with Brian:

The unlabeled Π-shaped line is an example of the length of Calirataia's proposed Wind Wall. 50 ft. but shapeable. She cannot make it a dome that goes directly over you, though. Ideas?

Attachments:

[Brian]

I like the placement. It should help control the field of battle, forcing the undead/gaunt to approach from fewer directions. Anyone else?

[Darren]

I think it's the best placement we can come up with without knowing what we're up against.

[Ken]

Belarin stands ready. "Just a note," he says without turning, "if more of those 'water mages' turn up, we're grouped together nicely for them. I think we've destroyed them all, but ... well, I think a lot of things that aren't grounded in reality."

[Brian]

Melethos nods. "I'll call out any changes based on what we face. But my best advice..." He grins. "Don't get hit."

[Brian]

"Cali," Melethos says to the dryad, "use your wind wall to block off the northern approach. We only want the enemies coming at us from three sides, not four. Understand?"

[Joe]

Streko replies to Histra. "They must be outside of 30 feet. If they can stay that far back, they will be safe from my invocation."

[Jeff]

You gather into Melethos's suggested defensive posture.

Jan 20, 2021 16:47:11 GMT -4 Joe said:

Streko replies to Histra. "They must be outside of 30 feet. If they can stay that far back, they will be safe from my invocation."

"Understood, Streko," Histra says, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving a firm squeeze. Almost like a moment of camaraderie, unusual for Histra! "I will do what I can to keep them clear. Choose your moment wisely." She hurries over to Relwalyn and starts rapidly speaking to her in Draconic—it seems the best language for getting through to her. The wraith, acting on her will, drifts further away.

"Tell me when, Melethos," Calirataia says, but clearly hesitates to cast her spell while Histra has moved outside the area she intended to summon the wall of wind.

And then you all see a great dark shape at the stern—no question, the fiend shooting up in flight from the gaping hole. But then it's immediately out of sight, blocked by the ship's multiple sails so you don't know precisely where it is next. The split second you saw it you thought it was carrying something in two hands.

A moment later, disturbing, jerking shapes climb into view—corpses pulling themselves up and out of the larger, green-miasma holes in the deck. Some on the sterncastle, some on the forecastle, and two even close by on the central deck! They look like long-rotting zombies but are not moving ponderously. They twitch like lightning has shocked them into violent spasms. To Melethos they look like some of the carcasses he saw below; putrid and more skeleton than flesh, crusted with some foul substance.

Histra spares them all a hurried glance as she tries to coax the ghost of Relwalyn to move elsewhere, or help.

---

The map includes the sails to remind you that they're there, and to show what's blocking your view of the fiend.

This time, I'd like all of you to roll your own Intiatives. I'll check in come morning. If you roll high, go ahead and post your turn!

Attachments:

[Darren]

Initiative = 13

[Brian]

Melethos: 1D20 → 1(1)#Initiative

[Ken]

Belarin's initiative: 1d20(15) + 4 = 19.

[Dave W.]

Adamant glances back at Calirataia quickly, “We are all here.” He stands ready to receive the charge.

---

dlw32: 1D20 → 15(15)

[Dave B.]

Shorak's Initiative: 1d20+9=23.

Shorak crouches down trying to stay as hidden as possible, using his friends and the part of the ship just to his south to do this. He holds his boomerang, looking up in anticipation of the fiend's appearance, ready to launch his weapon at the fiend.

Shorak uses Cunning Action to hide, moving one square south if need be. Stealth (Hide) check: 1d20+12=19; 1d20+12=22. Oops! I forgot Shorak has disadvantage on skill checks, so no advantage as they cancel each other out.

Ready attack vs. fiend as soon as it comes into sight and range. Advantaged ranged attack vs. fiend: 1d20+10=30; 1d20+10=20. Slashing damage: 2d6+5=12. Sneak attack damage: 10d6=37. If Shorak is spotted, the first roll was the critical.

If the fiend doesn't show up in the first round, I'm gonna cry.

If the fiend has a higher initiative, Shorak will still hide before attacking, to get a chance at the advantaged attack.

[Joe]

Initiative → 9

[Jeff]

Shorak moves a few feet further away from the mast in hopes of using it to block his body from the fiend's view, and possibly some of the stern-approaching undead. Meanwhile, he readies his boomerang, looking up.

The twitching zombies are disturbingly fast...sprinting without grace as fast as living men. No, faster. They hurl themselves over railings with broken legs, suffering no pain, and rise swiftly again when they hit the deck. You count eight of them for the moment, coming from different parts of the ship.

Histra hurries back into the designated formation, pausing only to speak the words of a spell and touch Belarin on his shoulder before he can protest. He feels like a barrier has been erected around his body specifically, but doesn't quite know how. Meanwhile, Calirataia conjures her wall of wind. It comes into view as a sharp rustling sound draws your attention to it. While transparent, the air appears to shimmer ever so slightly.

The two nearest animate corpses, having risen from the ragged hole on the port side, drag and run over to the nearest living: Histra and Melethos! They don't even reach out with hands, just seeming to throw their bodies against their victims with great force. But unlike normal zombies, these have jagged, sharp teeth and it seems like every exposed bone is splintered and equally sharp. Although they have no proper voices, they make constant wheezing noises as though trying to breathe. Histra dodges some of her foe's attacks, but its claws manage one swipe across her shoulder and neck. Melethos keeps his shield firmly before him, though he is surprised at how strong his opponent is pushing against it.

But two more of the zombies were close by; having hurled themselves down from the bow, they now grab and crowd at Shorak! The halfdrow isn't hidden from them. He tries to hold as still as he can even while dodging their foul limbs. One scrapes blood-encrusted fingerbones across his scalp before he pushes it away again. It hurts, but it's just a scratch.

Relwalyn strides up the stairs to the first level of the sterncastle and faces the undead that hurry toward your party. It's unclear what she can or will do, but she has interposed herself against them.

Histra's wraith glides in and with a mere touch seems to snuff even the undeath out of the zombie attacking Histra. It crumbles to the deck.

The door that earlier Shorak had opened and then shut now bursts open with great force, thrown from its hinges. Emerging, scraping its girth against the doorframe and peeling off ribbons of its own sickening hide, is the hideous and very animate corpse of an ogre. It holds a club of bone, but its half-rotted face and sharpened teeth seem like the greater threat.

• Calirataia casts Wind Wall.
• Histra casts Protection from Evil and Good (undead) on Belarin. Undead creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against him, and he cannot be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them.
• Some zombies move (fast!) and Dash. Others (who are close enough) move and attack.
• Zombie's attacks vs. Histra: 19 (hit), 8 (miss) / 9 slashing damage to Histra
• Zombie's attacks vs. Melethos: 8 (miss), 16 (miss)
• Zombie's attacks vs. Shorak: 12 (miss), 9 (miss)
• Zombie's attacks vs. Shorak: 21 (hit), 12 (miss) / 8 slashing damage to Shorak
• Zombie ogre appears.
• Wraith moves and attacks a zombie.
• Wraith's attack vs. zombie: 20 (hit) /  30 necrotic damage to zombie
• Zombie adjacent to Histra is destroyed.

Round 1

23 - Shorak (Ready)
19 - undead
19 - Belarin / Histra / Calirataia
15 - Adamant
13 - Kal
12 - gaunt
9 - Streko
1 - Melethos

[Brian]

The zombie pushes hard against Melethos, its sharp teeth and claws assailing the fighter. His shield manages to deflect the attacks, and the zombie's recklessness leaves an opening. Melethos wield his sword in a brutal cut at the zombie's chest.

__________________________________________________

Melethos uses his reaction to spend one superiority die in a Riposte Maneuver on the zombie's miss.

Melethos: 1D20+9 → 23(14 + 9)#Riposte Attack
Melethos: 1D8+5+ 1D10 → 17(7 + 5 + 5)#Damage from Riposte Attack

[Dave W.]

Jan 21, 2021 10:17:40 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Round 1

23 - Shorak (Ready)
19 - undead
19 - Belarin / Histra / Calirataia
13 - Kal
12 - gaunt
9 - Streko
1 - Melethos

Not to be a rules lawyer or anything but shouldn't Adamant be on this list... at 15?

[Jeff]

Dave, for the love of God, that's not rules lawyering. Stop apologizing! You should tell me when I miss something. Fixed!

[Ken]

Belarin points his dagger at one of the zombies engaged with Shorak. "On your souls your master has fed / I hope he's full 'cause he'll soon be dead!" Three red-and-silver blasts shoot out from his arm.

_____________

Belarin attacks the zombie to Shorak's southwest with eldritch blast.
Three blasts: totals of 21, 14, and 15. I'm hoping that at least two of those are hits!
Damage for all three blasts: 1d10(8)+4 = 12, 1d10(4)+4 = 8, 1d10(4)+4 = 8.

[Jeff]

Annnnd woops, my brain was picturing a previous placement of Adamant. He is not where I had him get attacked.

Histra was attacked, not Adamant, by a port-side zombie. But it has also since been dispatched by her wraith (not yet marked on the map).

[Dave W.]

"Here they come. Watch for the fiend from above."

Adamant starts a prayer, "Dol Arrah, humbly I ask for Your Protection and Strength! Bless my worthy friends and me, Your Servant."

He stands ready.

---

Bonus Action: Activate Force damage on the glaive in case there's an opportunity attack.
Move Action: none
Standard Action: Cast a second level Bless. The following are blessed: Adamant, Shorak, Melethos, Kal. For the next minute (but requires concentration) we get +1d4 to all saving throws and attack rolls.

I'm running out of spell slots... I suppose we all are...

---

Constant Effects (provided Adamant is conscious):

• Aura of Devotion: Adamant and allies within 10' can’t be charmed.
• Aura of Protection: Adamant and allies within 10' gain +3 on saves.
• Aura of Courage: Adamant and allies within 10' can’t be frightened.
• Sentinel: Adjacent creatures provoke opportunity attacks even if they use Disengage.
• Sentinel: If an adjacent enemy makes an attack against a target other than Adamant, he can use his reaction to make a melee attack against that enemy.

Possible Reactions:

• Fighting Style Protection: An attack against an adjacent ally suffers disadvantage when Addy has his shield up. Adamant doesn't have the shield now.
• Sentinel: If Addy hits with an opportunity attack, the target's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.

[Darren]

Kal decides to quickly split his focus in an attempt to fell multiple enemies and free up his friends for more important fights.

_________________
Kal will cast Scorching Ray. The first two bolts are directed at the zombie attacking Melethos.

To hit rolls are 19 and 25. Damage is 3 and 8 (fire).

If those two hits fell that, the third attack is against the zombie that Belarin attacked. Otherwise, the third bolt will also go at the same zombie attacking Melethos.

Third attack roll is an 18. Damage is 10.

[Jeff]

Kal's spell burns significant portions of the zombie's body away; they drip down onto the ground, liquefied and fouling the deck. But the creature itself doesn't go down yet. Belarin's blasts likewise knock holes into Shorak's nearest foe, but it too keeps coming, not yet so damaged that it cannot fight.

Through some of the tears in the sails all of you glimpse the black shape of the gaunt, but it's gone high up, near the top of the masts. When it finally appears overhead, Shorak's hand tenses, ready to let fly his weapon. But then he realizes grimly that he cannot throw that high. The fiend is out of range.

But then another problem presents itself: the large object that the gaunt was carrying it drops now. Something big and greyish . . .

The fiend seems to have aimed poorly if it was trying to drop the heavy thing onto your part, though it didn't look like it was thrown so much as dropped. When it clatters loudly to the deck, sending vibrations through to your feet, you understand why it wasn't meant to bludgeon you.

It's a dragon skull—Melethos is sure it's from the great skeleton in the hold—and green fumes cling to it! Threatening to expand! The skull is only feet away from Streko and Adamant, but you can see that the vapors will soon spread out.

For the moment, the fiend is in the air, far above Calirataia's wind wall.

• Gaunt moves, Dashes (flying), and then drops what it's holding.

Shorak's boomerang's maximum range is 60 ft. He cannot use his readied action.

Round 1

23 - Shorak (Ready)
19 - undead
19 - Belarin / Histra / Calirataia
15 - Adamant
13 - Kal
12 - gaunt
9 - Streko
1 - Melethos

Attachments:

[Joe]

Streko feels the vibration of the dragon skull slamming into the deck throughout his entire body and leans against the mast for support. When he turns his head to see what was dnearly dropped onto them, he sees a fantastic dragon skull oozing green vapors.

"Khyber's Bells!" Streko calls out to Olladra and watches as holy flame surrounds the zombie 15' south and 5' southwest of him.

He then spins his waves his arms and outlines an air-sickle, which glows and solidifies. Streko sends it to attack the same victim of his Sacred Flame.

"The Gaunt will try to wait us out, stay out of range while his smoke demon slowly cripples us. Then he will attack! We need to remove the dragon's head, and I'm not just saying that because it's right next to me. Okay, I am!"

His attempt at levity appears to go unnoticed. Everyone is too busy fighting.
_________________________________________________________________

Streko casts Sacred Flame on zombie 15'S and 5'SW of him.

Streko: 3D8 → 9(1 +2 +6)#Radiant Damage if Zombie fails Dex ST

Streko then casts spiritual weapon and sends it after same zombie.

Streko: 1D20+8 → 9(1 + 8)#First Spiritual Weapon Attack Well, shit.
Streko: 1D20+8 → 28(20 + 8)#Halfling Luck Re-Roll Well. SHIT! :-)

Damage:

Streko: 1D8+4 → 5(1 + 4)#First damage roll
Streko: 1D8+4 → 8(4 + 4)#Critical damage roll 2 TOTAL of 13 points damage to zombie #1

Hope I got this all right!!

[Brian]

"Ware the vapor!" Melethos cries as the dragon skull thuds to the deck. He momentarily considers dealing with it but knows his friends have spells that can push. He instead turns his attention on the gaunt and the ogre zombie heading right toward Histra. The necromancer has her wraith to aid her, so the battle master focuses on the gaunt.

Stowing his sword, he grasps the crystal hanging from his neck and throws his hand out, palm open, in the direction of the gaunt. Beams of red shot through with black race toward the demon.

___________________________________________

Free Action: Stow his sword

Movement Action: None. He's gonna keep that zombie interested in him and away from the others.

Standard Action: Melethos casts Eldritch Blast at the gaunt.

Okay, I messed up the attack roll formula. I just got three plain d20s, so I'll use them, add his +7 modifier, and I rolled 3 d4 die from the bless spell. Here are the results:

Melethos: repeat3 → 7; 14; 20(7);(14);(20)#20+7 +d4 #attack rolls against the gaunt

Now I'll add his +7 modifier, and we get 14, 21, and 27. Next are the Bless bonuses:

Melethos: repeat 3D4 → 1; 2; 3(1);(2);(3)#additional to attack rolls from Bless

Adding those in order, the final attack rolls are 15, 23, and 30. Two hit, one with a critical, but I'll roll damage on all three.

Melethos: repeat 2D20 → 10; 9(10);(9)#force damage from first two attacks
Melethos: 2D10 → 12(6 +6)#force damage from critical hit

If all three hit, that is 31 points of force damage.

[Jeff]

Between Belarin's fey-blasts and Streko's glowing, flying sickle, one of the zombies battling Shorak goes down. It evaded the holy fire of Streko's conjuring, but it still went down.

Melethos's newfound dark flame flies skyward; two rays punch into the gaunt, while one misses. It makes no sound but the tiefling can see the impact.

---

Had to adjust damage from the Spiritual Weapon, Joe. A crit deals an extra roll of the dice, but you don't add the modifier twice. Even so:

Zombie's Dex saving throw: 19 (success, no damage from Sacred Flame)
Zombie's Constitution saving throw (Undead Fortitude): 7 (failure)
Zombie 1 square SW of Shorak is destroyed.
The gaunt takes 21 force damage from Melethos. (the first blast missed)

Round 2

23 - Shorak
19 - undead
19 - Belarin / Histra / Calirataia
15 - Adamant
13 - Kal
12 - gaunt
9 - Streko
1 - Melethos

Attachments:

[Dave B.]

Shorak slips away from the zombie harassing him and focuses his next attack on the undead in melee with Melethos. He takes just a split second to take careful aim and lets loose with his boomerang.

Shorak uses Cunning Action to diesengage.

Shorak moves 1 square north.

Ranged attack vs. zombie 1 square SE of Melethos using Sharpshooter(taking a 5 penalty on his attack roll to add 10 points of damage if it hits.): 1d20+1d4+5=22. Slashing damage: 1d6+15=16. Sneak attack damage: 5d6=22.