Scene F - Wuthering Heights

[Author]

And so the party sails again, after getting their hands on some climbing gear for all the adventurers but Luc and Jasper.

Cleats
Boots, Common
The wearer cannot use the Dash action and has their land speed reduced by 5 feet. but has advantage on all Climb checks and saving throws made to keep their footing.

Climbing Spikes
Tool, common
When wilding a climbing spike in both hands, if the user has a Strength score capable of breaking the surface to be climbed (12 for common stone), the climb DC becomes 10.

As the ship draws close to the shore, Troy utters a long prayer (Aid x2) and increases the current and Max HP of all party members (except Phil) by 5. The party disembarks on the small sandy shore just north the the Arabi mountain range, there is a small row of palm trees, and then the ground juts up into the sky. However, the party does come across a narrow ravine that winds into the midst of the mountains...

[Tracy the Cat]

"Man, these cleats are a bit of a drag," Tracy remarks after walking onto the beach. "Beats falling off a mountain, I know. Still, not the best. Whatever. I'm excited to get the adventuring started. This is only our second real adventure as a group, our first as a crew. Wonder what loot we'll have to haul back. Even better, think of the stories we'll have after this."

[Luc Weiyn]

"Reminiscing already, are we Tracy?" Luc remarks with a chuckle before turning his attention to the cliff face. Hm. It must suck to not have wings, Luc decides quietly to himself.

"So!" He declares while clapping his hands together, turning to the general party. "Who all's just dying to squeeze into the cramped, claustrophobic ravine, and who all likes climbing? Dunno about you guys, but rock climbing is actually a lot of fun. Like, really." His wings give a light flap at that. "Besides, we're probably gonna end up climbing higher anyway, right?"

Hm. If they were going to be doing a lot of climbing today anyway, perhaps it'd be wise to ask a wind spirit to tag along. Luc sure as hell wouldn't be able to catch anyone on his own if they fell...

[Mori]

Mori finishes taking a drink from her water skin. Why do I wear black leather again? It's fucking hot out and I'm in full black leather body armor... Oh wait.
With a click of her fingers, Mori casually casts presdigitation and changes the black to a nice white, the green also lightens up to match the new color scheme.

"The ravine is a bad idea tactically. We don't know much about the area, I'd hate to walk into some local lizards canyon home and become lunch." Using her staff, Mori points to the top of the cliff and turns to look at the rest of the party. "However, that is high ground. We can scout the landscape up their. The only worry is if we get attacked by flying creatures as we climb. I suggest having Luc fly up and see what's up their. If nothing hostile, the rest of us can follow with the climbing equipment."

[Author]

"If we get attacked either way I'd rather do it with sure footing."

[Luc Weiyn]

"Y'know, if you or anyone else falls, I could just catch you. By which I mean I could ask someone politely for them to catch you." He pauses for a moment. "Wind spirits. I'm talking about wind spirits. Anyway, Mori's on the money, it wouldn't hurt for me to go check what's up there real quick, be right back."

Rolls were made:

With that, Luc takes to his wings, flying high above the party to get an overview of the land ahead. Aside from the majesty of the surrounding mountains, Luc doesn't see much of interest... perhaps because he's too focused on the presence atop the tallest peak, which he realized is rather intently focused on him.

Although left uneasy by the unknown observer, the batfolk doesn't make a beeline for the ground; he didn't want the presence thinking he was trying to hide from it, that might come off as hostile. Did it know he knew it was watching? Should he, like... wave to it, to show he was friendly, or play it off like he was oblivious? It didn't seem particularly hostile or evil...

Oh, what the hell, he figures there's no use in being rude. Luc gives the mountaintop a hesitant wave, hoping he might be able to gauge a reaction. If it was some kind of hermit wizard that wanted to be left alone, maybe he'd have the decency to signify it.

[Luc Weiyn]

Rolls Were Made:

...in retrospect, he'd probably regret that. If the mountain-dweller has any reaction, Luc misses it entirely, and soon makes his descent back down to the others.

Once grounded, he scratches the back of his neck, looking skyward. "Uh... so! I've got good news, and I've got... news. The good news is, the view up there is absolutely gorgeous. Really, you guys are missing out, we should find a way to attach wings to the Specter some day." He pauses for a moment at that. "...actually, that would be really cool. Huh. I wonder what it would take to..."

Realizing he's getting off track, Luc shakes his head. "Um, anyway. The uh, other news is that something on the top of the mountain a ways ahead knows we're here. Or at least that I'm here, and I dunno whether or not it'd love to have us for lunch, or have us for lunch."

[Author]

"So we have cover down-"
"Excellent view huh!" Kai says enthusiasticly.
"...Priorities, Kai."

[Luc Weiyn]

"Cover?" Luc's face scrunches slightly in concentration as stares up at the sky again. He then nods in affirmation, his lower lip slightly pursed. "...yep, feels about right. Wonder what it is, though... do we want to check it out and hope it doesn't eat our faces off, or just leave it alone?"

[Author]

"Pff, weird shit is what we're here looking for! Can't just leave without finding out what the mysterious entity is."

[Mori]

"Seems to be a better idea then ignoring it. If we let it be and its hostile it might chase after us. I'd rather address the potential problem then just assume it'll be fine."

[Luc Weiyn]

"To the top of the mountain it is, then! Best case scenario, we make a friend. Worst case scenario... eh, I didn't really need that face anyway." He gives a nonchalant shrug. "I'm uh... I'm starting to feel the ravine, though. Not really in the mood to have a peeping Tom constantly watching overhead."

[Tracy the Cat]

"I'm up for the ravine. It'd give me a chance to take off these restrictive cleats," Tracy adds. "Besides, there's all sorts of things our mysterious watcher could be. If he's hostile, we'll get to him soon enough. If he's not, well we'll find just find awesome things deeper in the mountains. Ooh, like maybe a hidden city deep within an ancient caldera, protected by illusions, and cut off from the rest of the world. Imagine how awesome that'd be!"

[Author]

"Yeah, well, don't let yourself get disappointing if we wind up selling giant scorpion venom or something instead. But I agree, the longer we spend with weapons out instead of climbing gear, the better," Marilynn says, taking her shield off her back. She pulls of the old, ratty cloak it was wrapped in, letting it fall unceremoniously to the ground. She then ties the cloak around her neck and picks up the shield.

The group travels onward. Small inclines of sand line the ravine [difficult terrain], until the mountains take a steeper [climb checks], rocky slope upward (somewhat steeper than the relevant reference image). The path winds into the range on a small incline, unevenly rising and falling. At times large birds fly overhead and small insects scuttle across the sand, out from small cracks in the stone mountain or simply the sand itself.

Assuming everyone has a waterskin, which is listed as 5 pounds, everyone has 10 8oz servings of water. All character must make (2) CON saves against the heat. Drinking 8oz of water grants advantage on a save. Phil finds the climate especially troublesome, pouring the contents of his waterskin onto his head and taking 16oz for such a save. In addition, they must make Perception checks...

[Author]

[Luc and Phil acquire 1 point of minor heat exhaustion, meaning a -1 penalty to CON saves]

And then all of a sudden a giant spider leaps out of the sand next to Luc. And it isn't alone.

[So, the whole party is surprised, as indicated by the "AH!" icon. Get fucked.]

[Author]

(18): Luc's turn: Surprise!
(17) Spider turn A:
-A spider leaps out of the Sand next to Luc and and bites him for [2 Piercing damage and a CON save [Result 14, Success] for 3 Poison damage.
-Two spiders emerge from the big red rocks (I mean, technically the other one is red too but the graphic isn't). One can't quite make it in attack range this round. The other attacks Kai and misses. Another scuttles around from the largest rock and attacks Tracy. To no avail.

(14): Tracy: Surprise!
(13) Kai: Surprise!
(8 ) Spiders B:
-Another scuttles out from under the red rock to the north and crits Tracy for 9 Piercing damage, and a CON save [Success] for 4 Poison damage.
-Another comes from the sand further away but still leaps at Luc for 7 Piercing and a CON save [Success] for 3 poison
-Another comes around from the rock to the south, and another from the large rock to the north, but don't quite come into range.
-Another crawls out of a crevice in the rock and jumps Mori, to no avail.

(5,3,3,1): Surprise!

[Author]

Luc darts into the air out of danger, and the spider next to him turns to make a flanking attack against Tracy. Marilynn defends Tracy's back against its flanking buddy, canceling its advantage, and it barely misses Tracy. Another spider is still behind Tracy at that moment, however, and its fangs drip with poison. And it fucks up its attack.

Another spider attacks Marilynn, to no avail. The spider attacking Kai, however, succeeds, dealing 3 Piercing and [CON success] 4 poison.

[Author]

Tracy pats Marilynn on the back, "Looking a little slow on your feet there, try to keep up." Then she takes a step away and lights three spiders on fire with a blast from her sword, leaving one of them dead.

Kai takes a step to the East and points his left hand at the space between two spiders. A sigil appears before his hand, and at the snap of his fingers a thunderous boom rolls out, blowing one spider apart and leaving a large dent in the other. The sand in that area flies violently into the air, creating a thick cloud (in the orange area) of concealment.

The spider he blasted attempts to counter attack, but bungles it. The one attacking Mori also fails, but Tracy gets hit again for 4 piercing and [CON success] 2 poison.

"Damn punk," Marilynn says, cleaving one of the burning spiders heads open, then takes a step toward Tracy and kills the other [Action Surge]. "Keep up with this," she says, and lastly whips her foot out and lifts up the leg of the spider next to Tracy to the north, disrupting it enough to give Tracy a quick opening to attack.

[Mori]

Mori lets out a yelp of surprise as the spider jumps her, barely managing to back step away from its fangs. With a flick of one hand, her Blackstaff starts to shine with a eerily, otherworldly glimmer. She then grips it firmly in both hands and attempts to spin the stick like a saw into the spiders face. However, her aim is off and the obsidian shaft slams into the sun kissed sand beside the spider. She lets out an audible "Fuck!" Then side steps to be next to Troy.

[Author]

Troy, meanwhile, raises his holy symbol into their air and rays of light strike Tracy, Kai and Mori, putting them under the effects of Bless (+1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws).

Phil runs up next to Kai and tries to poke at a spider.

[Luc Weiyn]

Okay! Okay. A bit of a jump scare there, but it's only some spiders, nothing to write home about. Deciding now is as good a time as ever to try out his new toy, Luc swoops over to the fringes of combat, sweeping his totem low at the spider beneath him. Sadly, the blow is only glancing, but that doesn't stop it from crackling with electricity as it makes contact with the oversized arachnid. [2 bludgeoning+2 shock damage]

[Author]

The spider south of Tracy leaps from the sandcloud at Troy, but Marilynn steps in and the spiders face rams helplessly into her shield.
Also Kai gets bit again for 5 total.

And then it appears. Out of thin fucking air, a giant white and blue spider just appears and bites into Mori's shoulder. [7 Piercing, CON success for 9 poison damage] Even Jasper fixates her gaze on it as it appears, much like any cat when they see something move.

[Tracy the Cat]

Tracy stabs into the spider Marilynn caught off guard and skewers it on her rapier. She then throws it off her sword and down at Marilynn's feet. "Oh I can keep up alright. Dibs on the big one!"

[Mori]

Mori lets out a pained cry, looking at the massive spider with a shocked gaze. "Oh fuck that's big."

[Author]

"Mori!" Kai yells, taking a step toward her and elegantly cutting down two spiders on his way. A third leaps out from the sandcloud, however, and bites him in the back for a total of 6.

"Nothing phases you, does it?" Marilynn asks, and cuts off a wolf spider's two front legs, leaving it maimed but barely alive.
"Spiders really aren't supposed to do that," Troy says, gritting his teeth.

[Sponsored content]