Chapter 19: Endless Nights

[Darren]

Yeah, he'll move on to the rigging. Again, not the smartest tactical move, but Kal isn't keen on using magic right now.

[Dave W.]

The Chant falters a moment while Adamant shivers from the vile touch of the creature. But he masters himself and continues the song.

Perhaps, he considers, it's not really a spell. He invokes the glaive to deal magical force damage instead of slashing. He tries to attack the dead thing again.

---

Even if the glaive does no damage as a force weapon (WARFORGED JEDI!) on a hit I can use Divine Smite to do some radiant damage that I bet will hurt...

Move Action: none
Bonus Action: Set Glaive to Force!
Standard Action: Two attacks… I'll put a 2nd level slot on each hit. If the Deadmen are undead or fiends the divine smite will do an extra d8. I'll roll that separately.

dlw32: 1D20+8 → 25(17 + 8)#first attack
dlw32: 1D12+4+ 3D8 → 23(12 + 4 + 4 +1 +2) maybe plus dlw32: 1D8 → 6(6)

So 16 force and either 7 or 13 radiant.

dlw32: 1D20+8 → 18(10 + 8)#second attack
dlw32: 1D12+4+ 3D8 → 22(9 + 4 + 5 +1 +3) maybe plus dlw32: 1D8 → 7(7)

So 13 force and either 9 or 16 radiant.

Sorry that's a little complicated...

---

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.

[Jeff]

Kal tries to lunge through the rigging but the spirit, no mindless zombie, sees him and dodges the attack. Yet Adamant's glaive slashes through its body and cleaves it in half; each half shreds further in the air and then vanishes. He prepares his weapon for a second strike but sees there is no foe in sight.

• Deadman "slain." Adamant only needed to expend one 2nd-level slot for that attack.

Round 4

29 - Shorak
19 - NPCs
18 - Belarin
18 - spirits
13 - Kal & Tangat
11 - Adamants
9 - Streko
5 - Melethos

[Joe]

Streko watches as Kurra is "hit" by the deadman. "Enough of this!" He moves to within 30' of the farthest deadman calls on Olladra's divine power a turn away the creatures!
___________________________________________

Streko will turn undead.

[Brian]

EDIT

Adamant kills the deadman. There are no other targets just yet, but he knows they will return. He keeps watch for other deadmen, ready to attack when one comes into range.

___________________________________

Melethos takes the Ready action.

[Jeff]

Streko presents his holy symbol, and the hold flashes with pure white light. Belarin swears he can see coins spinning amid the light flipped as in a game of chance. The two remaining dead men, who each wears the same stricken face, groan beneath the light. The one in front of Belarin evaporates beneath Streko's power. The other screams with rage but not fear, standing his ground.

Melethos and the others above deck brace themselves, readying for something more from the sunken ship. It is eerily quiet. There is only the shuffle of battle below deck.

Shorak and Belarin see that the remaining spirit is the one standing adjacent to Kurra and Calirataia both.

→ Deadmen in hold Wisdom saving throws vs. Turn Undead: 20 (success); 7 (failure)
• Deadman destroyed.

Round 5

29 - Shorak
19 - NPCs
18 - Belarin
18 - spirits
13 - Kal & Tangat
11 - Adamant
9 - Streko
5 - Melethos

[Dave B.]

Shorak moves in to strike at the last spirit, squeezing past the crates and Kurra. Taking advantage of the glowing faerie fire surrounding the undead creature, Shorak plunges the small blade of his dagger into its chest.

Shorak moves to the square north of Kurra, using Cunning Action if necessary.

Advantaged melee attack vs. deadman: 1d20+9=10; 1d20+9=20. Piercing damage: 1d4+5=6. Sneak attack damage: 5d6=9.

[Jeff]

The dryad's whip of thorns have already injured this one: Shorak stabs the dead man, who screams into Shorak's face. He can smell and feel the spirit's putrid breath, but it falls like a real body...and fades away when it hits the deck.

There is no mess to speak of. Just the panting of Kurra's breath as she sinks to one knee and tries to catch it. "Devourer's-shit that was cold." The dwarf woman shivers.

Calirataia places a hand on Kurra's shoulder. "I will tend her," she says, turning to Shorak and the others in the hold. "Help the others. There are more down here." She throws a glance towards the wall and points. Through there is the galley.

---

The battled has ended for where you can see it.

But Adamant knows if the spirits intend to return they can do so in some thirty seconds or so, as his Turn the Unholy lasts only for 1 minute.

And you don't know what's become of the ones in the galley.

[Ken]

Belarin steps over to the wall separating them from the galley and, trusting Calirataia, closes his eyes and walks through it.

[Brian]

Melethos relaxes. He can't see any deadmen, though he knows they will soon return.

"Stay alert," Melethos says. "We'll soon be back in battle. We'll have to rely on Kal and the others to keep order below deck."

[Jeff]

Calirataia watches Belarin, so when he reaches out, the wall is insubstantial. He passes through...

And finds Starg leaning heavy against one of the closed cabin doors. Thul whirls on Belarin, the Hammer of Syndra blazing with fire. But despite his age, the Karrn's reflexes are still sharp. He just grunts. "Gone now."

Starg pushes away from the wall. From their pallor, Belarin thinks both Starg and Thul may have both been "struck" by one of the spirits. But both seem safe enough.

"Tell the dwarf she'll need to fix the table," Thul says, setting down the hammer; the table in the middle of the galley has a massive crack in it, such that the table has begun to lean into itself from both sides like it's ready to fold in. Thul then heads up the ladder back to the main deck, and a few seconds later the Hammer of Syndra vanishes.

Meanwhile, Starg pushes open each cabin door to make sure nothing is lurking beyond them. All seems calm now.

"Are they repelled?" the minotaur asks Belarin.

[Ken]

"All gone," says Belarin, relieved that Starg and - yes, even Thul - are still standing. "At least for now. Looks like Adamant scared a bunch off, but I don't know if they'll come back. Do you need Streko's healing?"

[Dave W.]

Adamant looks directly at Kal, being sure he has the human's attention. Not interrupting the chant a new verse flows into it,

"As we live in Hope for the return of the Dawn,
So the Dark Forces against us may return."

and without the melodic flow, a quickly spoken adendum "... in a minute or so..."

And he turns to look at the retreating Deadmen

[Darren]

"Yup," Kal says, watching the retreating figures. He calls down the ladder, "Keep an eye open down there. They may come back. Hold your positions for now."

Once again, Kal finds himself cupping his hands to his mouth. "Asperii! Is everyone okay?" He rolls his eyes. "We need a better way to communicate with them," he says to anyone who can hear him.

[Jeff]

Sept 29, 2020 13:16:21 GMT -4 Ken said:

"All gone," says Belarin, relieved that Starg and - yes, even Thul - are still standing. "At least for now. Looks like Adamant scared a bunch off, but I don't know if they'll come back. Do you need Streko's healing?"

Starg looks like he will decline, then sighs. "I will not refuse it," he admits to Belarin and it is obvious to the warlock that the minotaur does not wish to become a burden on resources.

Wherever Belarin goes next, Starg to will go with him. Thul already has gone up.

Brack angles the ship further west and slowly, trying to keep away from the sunken ship and anything that might be in the same direction. This necessarily pushes the Dragonfly further from where the Asperii might be.

Kal's voice seems swallowed up in the fog.

Then, somewhere far away, there is a terrified scream, a woman's. At first you think it's coming from behind you, but by the time it finishes, it's clear it's ahead of you. Sound on the water is often hard to pinpoint.

"I'm staying down here. Calira, stay with me?" To Streko and Shorak, she points back to the ladder. "Go up. I'll call if we need you again."

[Joe]

Streko nods. He follows Starg up the ladder to the top deck.

"Allow me..." he says, asking for Olladra's aid and sending warm, healing warmth into the Minotaur.
___________________________________________________

Cure Wounds at 3rd level heals Starg for → 13 hp

[Brian]

Standing near the bow, Melethos whirls at the sound of the woman's scream. It came from before them. The Asperii?

"We need eyes out there," he calls out. He turns to Histra. "My lady, can the tauth scout in this fog?"

[Darren]

"Adamant! Light out front! Now!"

[Ken]

Belarin heads up the stairs to the deck, followed by Starg, who receives healing from Streko after the cleric emerges from the other hatch.

"Kurra's all right," Belarin says to Brack. "So's Cali." He felt the gruff captain would want to know that his crew was safe, even if he wouldn't necessarily ask.

He walks forward to rejoin Histra - and stops in his tracks at the sound of the scream. He looks toward the tauth on the starboard side, trying to see if the undead creature has pinpointed the scream's direction.

[Dave B.]

Shorak nods to Kurra and Calitaraia. "I'll heed your call, if it comes." Shorak says and heads back up to the main deck. He flinches at the scream coming out of the fog surrounding them, but recovers himself and goes over to stand by the mast. He keeps his eyes and ears open. Not that they can see all that much.

[Jeff]

Streko's magic sinks into Starg's body. The old minotaur looks somewhat better. "Thank you, Streko." For whatever influence there is of Mabar over the land, it does not seem to decrease the cleric's healing magic.

When everyone is back to the top deck, Histra nods at Belarin and immediately the tauth takes wing. It vanishes into the fog and gloom ahead. The necromancer's eyes darken as she uses her staff to steady herself. "It cannot see any better through the fog than we," she says. "If there is time later, and some hours of peace, I can at least increase its vision through the dark."

Silence reigns again. No follow-up scream...but neither do the dead-men spirits return.

Soon the sunken ship is out of sight. Occasional pieces of debris thud against the deck.

Waiting to give Adamant a chance to move, if he wishes.

[Dave W.]

Sept 29, 2020 19:52:45 GMT -4 Darren said:

"Adamant! Light out front! Now!"

Adamant nods, still chanting, and hurries to the bow. He tries to find the source of the cries.

[Jeff]

Histra chews her lip in frustration as she sees through the eyes of the tauth somewhere well out of sight in th edarkness. "The fog is . . . deep. These are the mists of Mabar at work. We will not 'outrun' it." She turns her unseeing eyes towards Belarin. "I think we must endure this, and not necessarily fight. Even those spirits, they did not attack until we did. It may be wise to ignore that voice—"

The unseen woman screams again. Shorter, more distressed, and closer somewhere. It sounds very real.

"It may be a mere phantom of the Endless Night," Histra says quietly.

When Adamant moves toward the bow, the harpy-ghoul shrinks away from him with an irritated hiss. His light goes with him, but it doesn't reach much beyond the bowsprit itself.

Those standing near the edge of the ship see the flotsam beginning to float behind the Dragonfly now, but they also see some skulls floating past. Even a couple of largely intact human-sized skeletons drift on the water, as if part of some grisly cargo spilled out of a wrecked ship. They are all motionless except for how the river itself moves them. Of course, this all seems wrong. Bones usually do not float.

Thul clears his throat, the Hammer of Syndra now lit again in his hands. "Some big dead lizard down there, too," he remarks, looking down on the port side.

Suddenly Adamant, Melethos, Kal, and Shorak—nearest the bow—see another wreck of a ship looming only partially out of the water dead ahead. Only forty or fifty feet from the Dragonfly's hull!

This map doesn't yet reflect Adamant's position near the bow, but his light is limited, in any case.

[Dave B.]

"Another shipwreck dead ahead!" Shorak calls to Brack in warning, hoping that they are going slow enough to veer or stop before striking the partially submerged ship.

[Darren]

Kal looks back at Brack, making sure he heard Shorak's warning. "Kurra!" Kal calls down the hatch. "Do you have a way to burn up some of this fog? We need to see what's ahead of us..."

[Jeff]

"Do not slow!" Histra calls out. "Move forward, Captain!" 

Brack has kept the Dragonfly slow for the sake of maneuverability, but cannot stop instantly. "Damn it, yes or no?" he swears.

Histra grasps Belarin's arm blindly. "Tell him."

Those near the bow spot another wreck just beyond the first. 

[Brian]

Melethos doesn't hesitate.

"Keep moving, Captain! Do not slow down!"

He fixes his attention on the wreckage, trying to see if any dangers present themselves.

[Ken]

"More tricks," says Belarin. "The scream and now this! Histra's right - keep moving forward!"

[Dave W.]

Three DAYS of this... Adamant thinks, We must have Courage... Praise the Host, we are entering the stanzas of Strength.

As the new verse begins Adamant greatly increases the volume of the Chant. Where it was a normal speaking tone, now his deep bass voice calls out loudly. Some vile aspect of the Day or perhaps merely the more mundane nature of the fog keeps it from reaching as far as it should but it does push some warm energy further.

[Darren]

Kal frowns. He doesn't like this. Not trusting his senses is not in his nature. "Belarin, are you sure? This is an illusion?" Seeing the warlock's certainty, Kal moves next to Brack and nods. "Alright, Captain, keep going. Not too fast, though. This may be a trick, but I still don't want to run head first into a trap. Does Kurra have any way of dealing with fog?"