Murder, She Rolled (D&D 5th Ed)

Vella sighed, looking wistful. "Though we may have been like a family, the ringmaster was an evil man. He constantly spent our earnings on women and wine. We were losing money and we confronted him about it. In a drunken rage, he tried to kill me and the clown by releasing the beasts from their cages. The strongman and the beast tamer managed to save us in time, and we had to go our separate ways lest the ringmaster do something more horrible to us..."

She looked down, sighing again. "Ever since, I've been wandering the world, entertaining those I came across. And I ended up here. What I would give to be with Viktor, Soreus, and Penten again...."

Sewers of Golimar

As the party drew closer still at least 120 ft away, for what it's worth, two things became clear:

1. Daren's advice to be "subtle" had clearly gone unheeded by Vella;
2. The pinprick of light wasn't becoming much larger as they got closer to it - and in fact, looked nothing like the exit Vella was hoping for.

edited 24th May '16 7:48:30 PM by Pyrite

"There's somebody up ahead," Vondal suddenly hissed. "Whoever they are, they're breathing like an elephant. Best be careful."

Vella went dead silent as soon as Vondal scolded her, and she covered her mouth. She looked disappointed that the light ahead of them was in fact not the exit, but it was probably something even more dangerous. Part of her was wanting to use her Dancing Lights again to bring whatever it was into view, but if it was something dangerous it might attack them if she did so...

"I can hear faint breathing. Maybe that's a supernatural foe, sure seems like it. Try not to break our line of sight."

Daren said, pointing his crossbow.

Ready an ranged attack action on the light if the source does anything harmful.

edited 25th May '16 4:59:34 AM by Kyef

The party drew closer to the flickering light, their guard raised, and as they approached, something stirred. A deep intake of breath, the rustle of leather and a heavy boot stamping hard into the muck, and a silhouette rising in the darkness... only to fall back down, slumped against the wall.

"W... who's there?" it croaked hoarsely, hacking out a wet, weak cough, and struggled to its feet again, propping itself up on what appeared to be a club or hammer of some sorts, a smouldering torch in its other hand. "Back to f.. finish me off?"

Collective stealth check: Lowest score was 14. Everybody passed, even Vondal. To be used later. However, only Vondal and Daren passed their perception checks. You are now 60ft away from the figure and light source.

edited 26th May '16 9:12:22 AM by Pyrite

Vella winced back as she approached... only to find that the flickering light was indeed not the exit, and it didn't seem to be something dangerous. Unfortunately, it was too dark to be able to see anything in this tunnel. She had gotten so excited about the light ahead that she had forgotten to re-cast her dancing lights. "Lucarma," she stated, waving her hands in front of her as four more glowing orbs appeared and illuminated the tunnel around this character. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

Casting dancing lights again.

edited 26th May '16 9:17:07 AM by AllHailThrall

"You mean you can't recognize him?" Vondal said. "Must be the lighting."

"We're not here to hurt to hurt you, Gorthmog," he said, approaching the figure, though keeping his shield out just in case he decided to lash out. "Let go of the weapon, and I'll see if I can patch you right up."

"Man, we've been searching for you everywhere! We're in charge of proving your innocence on this nasty affair. But first things first. Pray tell us everything from the night of the murder down to here and now. Who did this to you?"

Sewers of Golimar

Another mote of light danced from Vella's fingers and drifted slowly to the man in the shadows, complementing the dimming light of the torch. If there was any doubt in the adventurers' minds about the man's identity, it was wiped clean - the wounded half-orc leaning on the maul was, indeed, the very same serving-boy who'd attended the adventurers in the House of Loaves and Fowl two nights ago: Gorthmog. The good news was, he'd finally traded in his maid outfit for regular clothes - a red shirt and brown leather breeches.

The bad news was that if the countless slashes were any indication, his shirt was ruined... along with most of his upper body, judging from his wounds.

"Let it go..." he mumbled weakly, although the look on his face at seeing the four was, oddly enough, one of relief. "Guess I'll have to let it go. Can't hold it up anymore."

He tottered a little, took one step forward, and fell face-first into the grimy muck.

edited 28th May '16 3:24:56 AM by Pyrite

"Of course..." Vondal grumbled as he picked up the pace.

"Try to use your words to say what happened and how you're feeling, and that'll make it easier for me to patch you right up," he said to Gorthmog, trying to flip him over so he wasn't face-down, and inspecting the half-orc for more information about the extent of his wounds.

Unfortunately for Vondal, Gorthmog did not respond, and as he flipped the half-orc onto his back, his gauntlets turned sticky with half-clotted blood and raw sewage.

edited 29th May '16 3:06:51 AM by Pyrite

Vella's hands flew to her face as Gorthmog fell, face first, into the muck. Vondal tried to talk to him. "Vondal, this man needs healing!" Vella exclaimed, incredulous. She closed her eyes, waving her hands towards him. "Vitali," she stated strongly, hoping her magic would be enough to keep him alive.

Vella casts healing word. Vella is now out of spells for the day.

edited 29th May '16 8:08:20 AM by AllHailThrall

"You do realize I was going to heal him once I had him stable, correct?" Vondal said to Vella with a sigh. "If you'd rather waste your energy doing it less efficiently that's up to you."

Sewers of Golimar

Vella casts healing word. Gorthmog regains 1d4+5 = 9 HP, and remains alive.

Wasteful though it was, Vella's spell did its job - Gorthmog's breathing began to settle, and shortly after, his eyelids slowly creaked open to the sight of his saviours.

"...I'm still alive. Wasn't expecting that. Turns out you adventurers aren't such a bad lot after all." He sat up and coughed up a lump of clotted blood. "Could've sworn my shirt was white, though."

edited 30th May '16 5:22:09 AM by Pyrite

Vella shot a look at Vondal. "I don't care if it was inefficient. That man was dying and he needed healing fast! I couldn't just stand there and watch him die in the muck!" She sighed, then turned towards Gorthmog and winced a little at his sorry state (even after his healing). "What happened, sir?" she asked him, sounding concerned.

"Well, at least this spell definetively took a lot of blood out of our hands."

Daren sheated his crossbow and rummaged trough his stuff, again.

"Hey man, you look like crap. I've got some dried rations and a little water. Would you like some of it?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you also spent a decade training to be a healer, plus have practical experience in the field," Vondal said. "Forgive me for attempting to gauge his mental state so as to determine the medically proper course of action."

Healing was serious business.

"Drink this," he added to Gorthmog, handing him his waterskin.

"The important part is that he's okay. That frees up a bit of your healing for us to use later, right?"

Daren offered his rations, a little embarrased for having to share a half-empty waterskin.

"There you go, big guy. We're here, it's all right now."

"...Well, it's not like we're known for our hygiene anyway." Gorthmog took the proffered rations reluctantly, and continued between mouthfuls, "Guessing you're not after my head, or you'd have taken it already. So what in the gods' green earth are you doing down here, and how'd you find me?"

As an afterthought, he added, "And how'd you get past the giant rats?"

Vella looked upset at Vondal for a moment, before she turned back towards Gorthmog. "We found the secret passageway in your house and we—" she started to say, when it sunk in what he said about what else was in the sewers.

"Giant.... r-rats?! Ew! Ew! Ew ew ew! No!" Vella exclaimed suddenly, turning behind them and throwing her hands to her face. "No no no! No giant rats!"

"We walked past them," Vondal said. "Now, about you. We need to know everything about everything. Ned's murder, Ned's missing head, the Skull of Neruok, the bard that was at the tavern before things went to the eleven hells."

Sewers of Golimar

Gorthmog's eyes narrowed the moment he heard Vella mention the secret tunnel... and by the time Vondal brought up Ned's murder, the half-orc was practically squinting. "Ned was a good boss. A little greedy, but he did me no wrong. And now he's dead and the sonuvabitch has his head, and gods only know why. Ned never should've hired him in the first case."

His voice cracked, and he buried his head in his hands and fell silent.

Vella composed herself, shuddering, then looked towards Gorthmog. She frowned as Gorthmog buried his head in his hands, his voice wavering. Then she walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. "There there," she told him softly, in a consoling tone of voice. "Don't worry. We're going to get to the bottom of this. Just try and calm down. I know it's hard, I've lost people important to me as well." Vella backed up until she was out of the muck, then she pulled out her lute, sitting cross-legged onto the stone. She tuned it for a moment, then she started playing a soft, calm and lilting song that would hopefully soothe him, at least somewhat. Then she started to sing, softly and calmly.

A man of good standing, a man of stout heart / the bonds between men do not fast come apart...
The forces of Fate seek to lead to our end / yet dost not hold a candle to the love of a friend...
The ills of deception, the sins of betrayal / when countered with goodness, the evils doth fail
Though it seems to be hopeless, have hope either way / for justice and goodness to triumph today.

Performance check. And yes, I wrote that poem from scratch. It's probably corny but what are you gonna do?

Performance check (with advantage because you actually took the time to come up with the lyrics from scratch): 1d20+5 =... 9. Both times.

Sewers of Golimar

Unfortunately, Vella's song was met by Gorthmog's silent, stony stare, and an eternity passed to the sound of dripping water and the pitter-patter of tiny rodent feet.

"...Lady, this is Golimar," he grunted, and decided that nothing more needed to be said.

edited 4th Jun '16 10:37:56 AM by Pyrite