Man, Fuck These Dice - August 26, 2022

 - Jimmy says, "We need to talk."

- He convinces the group to duck into the alley / side street where he had been loitering because he doesn't want to walk up to the hillock

- The Black Bloods were hit very hard, and not just Jimmy's arm of the organization

- Jimmy's people tried to attack the Blackmore estate, and his people did not fair well, and it seemed like the zombie-creatures were protecting the estate

- Theophania convinces Jimmy to send the survivors of the attempted Blackmore estate to the Temple for healing because she's afraid that if the wounds fester and they die of them, she thinks there's a chance those people might rise as zombies

- After Jimmy departs, the group decides to try the Hall of Justice to see if Judge Blackmore is working today

- The Hall of Justice is closed and the only people who should be there are the city watch due to the current state of emergency

- They turn around and head to the Hillock after all

- The gate to the Blackmore estate's walled garden is broken, the garden looks torn up, and there's an outbuilding of some sort that looks like it was on fire at some point

- They walk up and Osiris knocks on the door

- The door opens - it is the security guard who chased Osiris and Tiff through a window

- Osiris's first thought on seeing him is "Oh shit, it's that guy" and then she realizes that something about him isn't quite right - he's holding his head strangely and his eyes look sunken

- Theophania asks to see Judge Blackmore, but the guard (Henry Todd) says the Blackmores are not receiving visitors today

- Osiris clutches her holy symbol and Channel's Divinity Turn Undead, but Henry seems unaffected

- Henry tells them to leave because Osiris cast a spell at him 

- He tries to go inside, but Osiris and Rusty refuse

- Rusty is very threatening and aggressive and a fight breaks out, much to Theophania's chagrin

BATTLE AT THE BLACKMORE ESTATE COURTYARD

- Lyrielle moves to behind Henry Todd and bonks him on the head with her staff for 13 bludgeoning dmg, but he isn't stunned by her Stunning Strike then she takes up a defensive stance

- HT swings at Lyrielle with his sword for 16 slashing dmg then he misses

- Theophania casts See Invisibility and then back up to the fountain after seeing no invisible things

- A Housekeeper(?) with claws(?) runs out the door straight to Theophania, misses, and then scratches her for 9 slashing dmg and 10 poison dmg

- Raiàn moves the housekeeper and casts Burning Hands then she Misty Steps into the house

- A Butler(?) with claws(?) swipes at Raiàn for 4 slashing and 12 poison dmg and then again for 9 slashing and 8 poison dmg

- Rusty Rages and moves up to HT and slices him with a great axe for 6 slashing dmg and then again for 7 slashing dmg (HT's blood is too thick, it's like jelly)

- Osiris casts Banish on HT, but he resists, then she moves out from behind Rusty and to the right

- A Cook(?) with claws(?) moves up to Raiàn and claws her for 9 slashing and 14 poison dmg and then again for 7 slashing and 23 poison dmg

- An Errand Boy(?) screams(?) a weird energy bolt hitting Lyrielle for 16 necrotic dmg

- Lyrielle smacks HT again for 25 bludgeoning dmg and he resists being Stunned again then she Disengages with Step of the Wind and runs behind a topiary in the shape of a horse

- HT swings at Rusty for 12 slashing dmg and then misses (Osiris notices that HT's wounds close up a little bit as well)

- Theophania casts Cure Wounds on herself for 9 HP

- The "Housekeeper" claws Theophania for 8 slashing and 23 poison dmg the misses

- Raiàn is not dead yet.

- The "Butler" moves to flank Rusty then claws him for 4 slashing and 8 poison dmg then misses

- Rusty misses the "Butler" and then chops him for 15 slashing dmg

- Osiris casts Aura of Vitality and uses it to give 17 HP to Raiàn then she moves to flank the "Butler" with Rusty

- The "Cook" thinks Raiàn is dead, so he scream attacks at Rusty for 8 necrotic dmg

- The "Errand Boy" misses Rusty with an energy scream

- Lyrielle moves to flank the "Housekeeper" with Tiff, misses with her staff then uses Wholeness of Body and regains 24 HP

- HT starts casts a spell (Magic Weapon?) then swings at Rusty for 14 slashing and 7 psychic dmg

- Theophania Disengages and runs away toward the gate

- The "Housekeeper" misses Lyrielle twice

- Raiàn casts Misty Step then stands up and stubbles away then turns and then tosses a Firebolt at the couch, which starts to catch fire

- The "Butler" misses Rusty then claws him for 2 slashing and 5 poison

- Rusty Disengages and runs towards the exit towards Theophania

- Osiris uses the AoV to heal Raiàn for 7 HP then moves to Rusty taking an attack from the Housekeeper (7 slashing and 10 poison dmg) and Cure Wounds Rusty for 19 HP

- The "Cook" moves into the open doorways and screams energy at Lyrielle 

- The "Errand Boy" put out the couch that's on fire

- Lyrielle smacks the "Housekeeper" for 13 bludgeoning dmg and she is Stunned  then she runs around the fountain towards the exit

- HT stares at Rusty with eyes like daggers, but Rusty is unaffected, so he moves in Rusty's direction up next to the "Housekeeper"

- Tiff casts Cure Wounds on herself and then run 25' more towards the exit

- The "Housekeeper" is Stunned

- Raiàn throws a Fireball (4th level) into the doorway dealing 39 fire dmg to HT (his sword stops glowing) and the Housekeep and the Cook, but the Butler ducks and only takes 19 fire dmg and some of the house is burning

- The "Butler" moves to Raiàn and claws her for 5 slashing and 12 poison and then again for 4 slashing and 12 poison, and Raiàn is unconscious again

- Rusty runs back to the "Housekeeper" grabs her and runs towards the gate

- Osiris moves into the fountain within 30' of Raiàn then heals her for 17 HP with the AoV, then she moves next to Rusty then she casts Sacred Flame on the "Housekeeper" for 12 radiant dmg

- The "Cook" and "Errand Boy" both spend their turns putting out fire in or on the house

- Lyrielle sprints for the exit

- HT moves up to Osiris, misses her, then slices into her for 17 slashing dmg

- Theophania casts Reduce on the "Housekeeper" but she resists the spell, then Theophania runs for the exit

- The "Housekeeper" does not break free of Rusty's grasp

- Raiàn Misty Steps towards the exit and then runs towards the exit then she casts Firebolt at HT for 

- Lyrielle runs out of the gate

- HT misses Osiris twice

- Tiff shoots Henry with her crossbow and then runs out the gate

- The "Housekeeper" breaks free from Rusty and runs towards the house (Rusty and Osiris both miss their opportunity attacks)

- Raiàn casts Fireball (4th level) so that HT and the "Housekeeper" for 10 fire dmg on both then they run out the gate

- The "Butler" screams energy at Rusty but misses then he moves towards the gate

- Rusty moves to flank HT with Osiris and chops him for 21 slashing dmg then they miss then he moves back next to Osiris

- Osiris heals Rusty for 14 HP then she casts Cure Wounds on herself for 18 HP then she turns and runs for the gate taking 24 slashing dmg from HT as she goes

- HT misses Rusty then slices into him for 15 slashing dmg

- Rusty Disengages and runs towards the gate

- Osiris heals Rusty for 13 HP then runs out the gate

EVERYONE ESCAPES

- The wounds the Theophania and Raiàn suffered are obviously from some kind of undead

- They hopefully have proof that they were attacked by undead at the Blackmore Estate

- Osiris casts Locate Creature to try to find Lord Blackmore, and she gets the feeling that he's somewhere in the house

- They make their way cautiously back to the Temple

- 2,300 XP ea. for 43,590 total XP ea.

Survivor: Mistverge - August 5, 2022

SKILL CHALLENGE TO SURVIVE THE NIGHT / SAVE TOWNSPEOPLE (5 before 3)

- Rusty uses Athletics to barricade the windows and doors with furniture (Success)

- Raiàn Persuades Magnus not to help (Success)

- Theophania sees some townspeople running from zombies, so she pulls out her Skywrite machine sand makes the clouds above the Curlywit Boardinghouse glow to attract their attention (Arcana - Success)

- Osiris runs out the door Rusty wrenches open for the townspeople, who make it inside before getting bitten, and Osiris tries to Sacred Flame them off the building (Religion - Fail) and the zombies swarm her

- Lyrielle Sneaks out a window and up the alley a little ways, then throws a dart at a flower pot to break it (Fail) The zombies do not notice and continue mauling Osiris

- Rusty runs out the door charging the zombies while screaming with glowing red eyes (Intimidation - Success) The zombies are taken aback enough for his to grab her and pull her back inside

- Raiàn hears glass breaking upstairs, so she runs up there and sees a spider-zombie climbing through a broken window, so she casts Magic Missile (Arcana - Success) and knocks him back out the window

- They board up the damaged window 

- The halflings live a few blocks up, and a zombie broke into the house where they were taking shelter, so they ran

- Callie gives them a stiff drink each (on the house)

- They halflings tell the group that the undead problem started a little after sundown

- Osiris can't piece together exactly what time the glowing would have started on the alter, and Theophania can't help since she was asleep when the glowing started

- Tiff keeps plinking zombies out the window with her limitless ammunition

- Osiris helps keep watch and she notices over time that they seem to have similar features in that they all seem to have been created by the same crazed individual or group of people 

- By the time the sun rises, they have a small group of survivors (5 halflings and a gnome)

- One of the halflings and the gnome claim to have been at a bar drinking when the zombies starting attacking, but Osiris gets the feeling they might have been looting houses

- None of the refugees are interested in coming to the temple with the group, so they leave them in the barricaded boardinghouse with Magnus having been given permission to use fireball again

- The streets are quiet, but there are bodies both of zombies and townspeople and a good bit of property damage 

- As they cross the Golden Bridge and head to the temple, the paths that lead into the normally open courtyard are heavily guarded, mostly with city watch

- Rusty has to show their badge to get past

- There is a little damage to the courtyard area, but the Temple itself seems unharmed

- They head straight to Rowan's office, and as they are walking up to the front door, they are directed to a side door instead as the sanctuary is very full of refugees (maybe 1,000)

- Rowan is very surprised to hear their report about the altar and the leak of necrotic energies

- Rowan says that the zombies came out of the sewers and the river and gravesites starting not long after sunset

- The older parts of the city (docks district) were hit the hardest as well as many areas with "dens of ill repute", though the newer "nicer" parts of town also have damage but that may have been from looters rather than creatures, and one of the estates on Winfair Hillock caught fire 

- Rowan doesn't know what to do about the pool of necrotic energy, so he directs them to Birel

- Birel looks exhausted and is directing many acolytes to organize all the incoming bodies

- They ask to speak to Birel in his office, and then give Birel the same spiel they gave to Rowan

- Birel thinks that it was a good-thing, or at least more good than bad, that the tendrils, altar, and skull were destroyed as it probably made the zombie outbreak that happened possible or easier

- Tiff offers to write a letter to Great Aunt Thessalie's friend who is a professor in one of the elven cities in the Niannan Freelands (Sharai), but Osiris says that she met her once and can 

- Birel also reports no undead rose from the catacombs under temple itself

- Rusty reports to the commander in charge of the security at the temple

- Then he goes Norman to requisition a new weapon since his greatsword is now an instrument that will create undead, and "that seems counterproductive at best"

- After very efficiently filling out the five pages of forms Norman requests for him, Norman brings him what is clearly a Dwarven-made great axe that Norman says was found when the area under the temple was excavated

- Osiris and Tiff head to the archive to research the Shadowfell and links thereto

- The Temple doesn't have a lot about the Shadowfell itself, but there are some history books that talk about this area that mention some cults that existed in the area and there is a cult who worshipped Takhisis, so they are probably the ones who created the altar

- Tiff falls asleep at the research table (they've been awake for like 30-32 hours at this point), so Rusty and Osiris take her to her room

- Rusty is very excited about his axe because he has vague memories of not being allowed one and given the sword instead.

- Long rest at the temple

- The group wakes up in the earlier evening and dresses in their nicest clothes 

- Right before they head to the Winfair Hillock, Osiris Sends to Sharai, "This is Osiris, friend of Thessalie. There is gate to the Shadowfell beneath Mistverge. Can you please come to the Temple and advise or help?"

- She receives, "I'm not really that kind of wizard. So not sure I can be of much help. I can try though. Can be there in three days."

- As they start up the road towards the Winfair Hillow, a man walks out of an alley, sidles up the group, and starts walking with them.

- Jimmy says, "We need to talk."

- 2,000 XP ea for 41,290 XP total XP