Chapter 1 - Unrest in Baromenes

ariel · March 22, 2023

How can so much happen in such a short period of time? So much of what she was going to say was obliterated by the arrival of the black-cloaked figure. Dae's mind sped to keep up. Lulani and Billie, sisters... two sides of a single coin?

Then, there was the pastry pie. She glanced down. Yes, she was still holding it. She remembered thinking that she hadn't had such a treat in a long time. Did I say thanks? I don't think so.

Then the tiefling... Damaia was it? The Red Banners... out of Kontos, never been there.

Mags again. Dreams? Disturbing dreams? Yes!

Everything, every other single thought, drained from Dae's as the black cloaked figure entered the area. In a carrying whisper, she spoke, her buttery voice stretching thin, melting to reach the others in the area.

"It's a herald of Siarus. It is Death. I have seen her before... I've seen her when death is near... when someone loses their mortal life. She is not the cause, but the observer."

She took three steps away and scanned the area for a threat. "Let us be away, the gods should not dabble in mortal affairs, but this I have seen with my own eyes." With a delicate thrumming gesture of the hand not carrying the pastry pie, she spoke a word of power; it sounded like a elvish dirge.

OOC

Casting the iconoclast protection from evil, it will last 10 minutes.

Edited March 22, 2023 by ariel (see edit history)

Wizard of the Coat · March 22, 2023

Mags Kategaris - Itinerant Hedge Wizard

Mags_token_200.png.d3596c7994956f551d31c29deaf69122.png

AC: 14 (17with Mage Armor) | HP: 30/30 | Initiative: +4Oracular Insight (I'll often use this for important initiative checks)
"The gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest." | Passive Perception: 17 | Spell Slots 1/2 (1st)

"Let us be away, the gods should not dabble in mortal affairs, but this I have seen with my own eyes."

Oh, right.

Mags shot a sideways glance to the auburn-haired girl, realizing she was probably right. He'd been traveling either with the Master or alone for so long that he didn't think of the others should they need to flee combat. The Master's first rule of combat was: choose your battles with discretion. In his life on the road, Mags guessed he'd fled more enemies than Billie and Damaia combined had faced in combat. For Mags, running was always an option. But what about his new companions. He doubted they could keep up. If they chose to stay and fight and the battle turned against them, would they be able to outrun the enemy?

With that thought, Mags realized that his willingness to fight had been motivated by a desire to finally learn of his enemy. And with that realization, he heard the Master's voice speaking familiar words: A fools bargain, boy!

Yeah, meeting the enemy on their terms, learning only what they were willing to reveal. Stupid idea.

He nodded his agreement. "Seconded. We should run. There are better ways to learn about and face our enemies besides meeting them at a time and place of their choosing."

He turned to face the Herald. Or the Herald of Death's choosing?

Mechanics

Main Hand: dagger (with Ullmalyte Stone of the War Mage)

Off Hand: free for casting

In case we're already in "combat mode"

Free Interact with Objects: draw dagger

Action: cast Mage Hand (see statblock for spell description): moving the invisible hand into position for the possibility of pulling back the messenger's hood to reveal her face or reveal that she is an illusion.

Bonus Action: --

Note 1: the cat on the balcony, his familiar, will be making perception checks in anticipation of enemy arrivals.

Note 2: Mags previously cast Mage Armor on himself. (see previous posts)

Statblock

Male Human (Varient) Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 3

Languages Halaea Common, Grehesian Common, Khazian Common, Malek Common, Celestial, Irodesi, Thieves' Cant

Background Hedge Wizard Background Feature The Common Folks' WizardWhen you arrive in smaller communities in your role as hedge wizard, you receive free lodging and food of a modest standard. In addition, your work (reading fortunes, conducting séances, providing herbal remedies to the sick, selling protective trinkets...) leads your clients to open up and tell you things, allowing you access to information they might not publicly share about themselves or others in their community.

ProficiencyTools: Thieves tools (+5 Pick Locks*), herbalism kit
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Armors: Light Bonus +2 Saving Throws Dex, Int

Speed 30 (60 w/Cunning Action Dash)

Actions

Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
Dagger +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, light, thrown (20/60)
Dart +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, thrown (20/60)
Sling +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] bludgeoning damage | Ammunition (30/120)
Knife +6 to hit for [1d3+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light

Bonus Actions

Knife (2 Weapon Fighting) +6 to hit for [1d3 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light
Cunning ActionStarting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. (Dash, Disengage, Hide, Mage Hand LegerdemainStarting at 3rd level, when you cast mage hand, you can make the spectral hand invisible, and you can perform the following additional tasks with it:

>You can stow one object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can retrieve an object in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can use thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.

You can perform one of these tasks without being noticed by a creature if you succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creature's Wisdom (Perception) check.

In addition, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.)
Steady AimAs a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Reactions

Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.
Opportunity Attack (with additional Sneak Attack)

Other/Free Actions

Oracle's InsightThe gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spell Save DC: 12 | Spell Attack Mod: +4

Cantrips Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8). | Mage HandConjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute

A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.

The hand can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds. | MessageTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a short piece of copper wire)
Duration: 1 round

You point your finger toward a creature within range and whisper a message. The target (and only the target) hears the message and can reply in a whisper that only you can hear.

You can cast this spell through solid objects if you are familiar with the target and know it is beyond the barrier. Magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood blocks the spell. The spell doesn't have to follow a straight line and can travel freely around corners or through openings. | Minor IllusionIllusion cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: S, M (a bit of fleece)
Duration: 1 minute

You create a sound or an image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a lion's roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.

If you create an image of an object—such as a chair, muddy footprints, or a small chest—it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it.

If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature. | PrestidigitationTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Up to 1 hour

This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

>You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
>You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
>You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
>You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
>You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
>You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

Spells Disguise Self1st-level illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour

You make yourself—including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person—look different until the spell ends or until you use your action to dismiss it. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can't change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the illusion is up to you.

The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair.

To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. | Find FamiliarCasting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Additional animal form choices may be available at the DM's discretion.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. | Mage Armor1st-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a piece of cured leather)
Duration: 8 hours

You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action. | Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.

Rituals Augury2nd-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp)
Duration: Instantaneous

By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:

>Weal, for good results
>Woe, for bad results
>Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
>Nothing, for results that aren't especially good or bad

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.

If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Wizard of the Coat (see edit history)

Wizard of the Coat · March 23, 2023

Mags Kategaris - Itinerant Hedge Wizard

AC: 14 (17with Mage Armor) | HP: 30/30 | Initiative: +4Oracular Insight (I'll often use this for important initiative checks)
"The gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest." | Passive Perception: 17 | Spell Slots 1/2 (1st)

Time seems to slow down. The world turned a blue hue and wobbled as if made of jello. Mags blinked. His eyes grew distant. If any of the others were near enough to notice, the human's eyes started moving rapidly back and forth--as if in a deep sleep, yet wide open.

Instantly, he was a boy again, inside the shrine at the crossroads, the sound of carnage and battle ringing in his ears. He was terrified, but his mother was there, speaking words of comfort. But when he look to her, his mother was gone, replaced by the woman in black, kneeling by his side, reassuring him in his mother's voice. All the same words his mother had spoken before she herself had disappeared, leaving him with her final words: "Cannot run." The words reverberate in his mind. "Cannot Run, cannot run, cannot run." Time rushed passed him, or he through time, while the words reverberated over and over, multiple pathways that lead to memories: some he recognized, some he did not, and still others he wished he could forget.

When he returned to himself, he was back in the mall still standing before the fountain--before the Herald. His eyes caught a fleeting glimpse of movement on the periphery of his vision: a figure with winged boots darting from a shadowed perch looked back at him for an instant before disappearing into the city.

He offered a quick silent prayer of gratitude to the Path Maker.

And then he turned to the auburn-haired girl and announced with words not his own. "We cannot run."

Mechanics

Main Hand: dagger (with Ullmalyte Stone of the War Mage)

Off Hand: free for casting

In case we're already in "combat mode"

Free Interact with Objects: draw dagger

Action: cast Mage Hand (see statblock for spell description): moving the invisible hand into position for the possibility of pulling back the messenger's hood to reveal her face or reveal that she is an illusion.

Bonus Action: --

Note 1: the cat on the balcony, his familiar, will be making perception checks in anticipation of enemy arrivals.

Note 2: Mags previously cast Mage Armor on himself. (see previous posts)

Statblock

Male Human (Varient) Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 3

Languages Halaea Common, Grehesian Common, Khazian Common, Celestial, Thieves' Cant

Background Hedge Wizard Background Feature The Common Folks' WizardWhen you arrive in smaller communities in your role as hedge wizard, you receive free lodging and food of a modest standard. In addition, your work (reading fortunes, conducting séances, providing herbal remedies to the sick, selling protective trinkets...) leads your clients to open up and tell you things, allowing you access to information they might not publicly share about themselves or others in their community.

ProficiencyTools: Thieves tools (+5 Pick Locks*), herbalism kit
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Armors: Light Bonus +2 Saving Throws Dex, Int

Speed 30 (60 w/Cunning Action Dash)

Actions

Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
Dagger +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, light, thrown (20/60)
Dart +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, thrown (20/60)
Sling +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] bludgeoning damage | Ammunition (30/120)
Knife +6 to hit for [1d3+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light

Bonus Actions

Knife (2 Weapon Fighting) +6 to hit for [1d3 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light
Cunning ActionStarting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. (Dash, Disengage, Hide, Mage Hand LegerdemainStarting at 3rd level, when you cast mage hand, you can make the spectral hand invisible, and you can perform the following additional tasks with it:

>You can stow one object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can retrieve an object in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can use thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.

You can perform one of these tasks without being noticed by a creature if you succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creature's Wisdom (Perception) check.

In addition, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.)
Steady AimAs a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Reactions

Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.
Opportunity Attack (with additional Sneak Attack)

Other/Free Actions

Oracle's InsightThe gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spell Save DC: 12 | Spell Attack Mod: +4

Cantrips Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8). | Mage HandConjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute

A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.

The hand can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds. | MessageTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a short piece of copper wire)
Duration: 1 round

You point your finger toward a creature within range and whisper a message. The target (and only the target) hears the message and can reply in a whisper that only you can hear.

You can cast this spell through solid objects if you are familiar with the target and know it is beyond the barrier. Magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood blocks the spell. The spell doesn't have to follow a straight line and can travel freely around corners or through openings. | Minor IllusionIllusion cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: S, M (a bit of fleece)
Duration: 1 minute

You create a sound or an image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a lion's roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.

If you create an image of an object—such as a chair, muddy footprints, or a small chest—it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it.

If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature. | PrestidigitationTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Up to 1 hour

This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

>You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
>You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
>You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
>You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
>You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
>You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

Spells Disguise Self1st-level illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour

You make yourself—including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person—look different until the spell ends or until you use your action to dismiss it. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can't change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the illusion is up to you.

The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair.

To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. | Find FamiliarCasting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Additional animal form choices may be available at the DM's discretion.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. | Mage Armor1st-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a piece of cured leather)
Duration: 8 hours

You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action. | Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.

Rituals Augury2nd-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp)
Duration: Instantaneous

By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:

>Weal, for good results
>Woe, for bad results
>Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
>Nothing, for results that aren't especially good or bad

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.

If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Wizard of the Coat (see edit history)

ariel · March 23, 2023

Dae

Dae, in full retreat, halted. She turned to stare at Mags. If anyone else had said it... if anyone else had said that they can't run, she would be off, running to preserve any extra second she had to cling to this mortal existence.

But... he'd given her the pastry pie. She glanced down and saw it. She was still holding it, caging its soft sweetness in stiff fingers to preserve it for a taste. Just one bite, that's all she wanted. She looked up, trying to catch his eye with hers.

"If we can't run, we must stand and endure the darkness. If we want to see the light again, we must endure."

OOC

Giving Mags inspiration (1d6 for 10 minutes for any ability check, attack roll or saving throw)

Status: protection from evil/goodProtected from aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead for 10 minutes.

Creatures of those types have disadvantage on attack rolls against the target. The target also can't be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them.

Edited March 23, 2023 by ariel
Changing OOC for Spoiler and tallying the stat line. (see edit history)

Rumrunner · March 23, 2023

Wilhelmina "Billie" Zenar'Inan - Shadar Kai Echo Knight Fighter

AC: 16 | HP: 35/35 | Initiative: +2 | Passive Perception: 13

In all her life when her body adjusted for fight or flight, there was only one answer, but this lady, this thing, this avatar of Death made it a question. She shivered, aggressively, like a dog shaking off snow. She was not ready to fight a god, and would probably lose this fight too, but may... a hand touched her shoulder. Her sister knew her well, before the thoughts of mettle had even fully formed in her head, Luluani was already doing her best to stifle them.

But the blood, it was thumping, she could hear her heart beginning to race, the thrill of it, the readiness of it, how it wanted to just course through her body, her muscles, and throw metal. It had been a long time since she'd been so worked up. The taste of iron, she licked her lips, ran her tongue over her teeth, reflexively checking for the familiar flow of blood. Her skin pimpled, hair on end, the mad girl who knew not the difference between fear and a wild thrill was torn.

There were words being spoken around her, they didn't matter, mumbled nothings beneath the thrump-a-tum-tum of blood in her ears. Were they going to die here? No... she said they'd be the last to die. Her foot stomped down upon her own shadow and her eyes splashed into pitch as if someone with a bucket of tar threw it forcefully forward from the inside of her skull. There was a noise but not a noise, a mind's interpretation of a thing. It sounded like punching tin foil, but instead of breaking it crumpled around the fist. Behind the woman servant of death, a reality breaking form of shadow shards coalesced, a broken black mirror of Billie Zenar"Inan

She heard her sister... Billy please listen... She opened her ears... "We cannot run" "we can't run, we must stand and endure the darkness."

"We will fight." She drew her sword and a malevolent dark grin tugged and twitched at the corners of her lips.

Mechanics

Main Hand: Greatsword
Off Hand: more greatsword

Action 1: Conjure Echo
Action 2: Draw Sword
Action 3: Grin Wickedly.

Wizard of the Coat · March 23, 2023

Mags Kategaris - Itinerant Hedge Wizard

AC: 14 (17with Mage Armor) | HP: 30/30 | Initiative: +4Oracular Insight (I'll often use this for important initiative checks)
"The gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest." | Passive Perception: 17 | Spell Slots 1/2 (1st)

The violin maker caught his eye and he was momentarily lost, bewitched by her words and gaze. He felt confidence flowing into him and his eyes widened. The Master had always favored the halfling weed. Mags had tried it once. What she did to him now, her bewitchment, felt a little like that halfling weed, but more... uplifting than relaxing. His face betrayed the connection he felt to her, so he tore his gaze from the auburn-haired girl.

What in Halycia was happening to him? Why did he feel the pull... to her? To all of them? They seemingly felt no similar connection to each other or to him. And yet, he could not envision an outcome where he fled to safety without them. He knew, without knowing how, that if he tried to leave her, leave them, the tingling pull would return, driving him back.

He was definitely not telling Billie about this.

"We will fight."

Mags took a slow sidestep away from Billie, glad she was on their side. He considered the possibility that she would attack the Herald and hoped that Lu would be able to stop her--because he certainly wasn't going to try.

Then he saw Billie's shadow standing behind the black-hooded woman. Could this Herald of Death summon shadows of the living? And if so, why? Was she going to be joining the fight or just preparing to protect herself with a shadow champion.

A black cat appeared on his shoulder.

"This is Clair" Mag's announced, his voice coming in a rasp. He cleared his throat and added more steadily, "She's on our side."

Before Valyv could turn her into his new chew toy, Clair leaped away, scrabbling up the side of a building onto a second-story ledge where she hid from view.

Mechanics

Main Hand: dagger (with Ullmalyte Stone of the War Mage)

Off Hand: free for casting

If-Then: If the Herald every responds to Mags question, saying something to the effect that we have lots of time before the enemy arrives, I'll retcon this post. This post assumes either no clear answer from the Herald, or an answer suggesting an eminent attack.

Free Interact with Objects:

Action:

Familiar's Move: move to cover roughly 10 feet up

Familiar's Action:

Note 1: Familiar his hiding, making perception checks looking for approaching enemies

Note 2: Mags previously cast Mage Armor on himself. (see previous posts)

Note 3: Mage Hand currently active

Statblock

Male Human (Varient) Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 3

Languages Halaea Common, Grehesian Common, Khazian Common, Malek Common, Celestial, Irodesi, Thieves' Cant

Background Hedge Wizard Background Feature The Common Folks' WizardWhen you arrive in smaller communities in your role as hedge wizard, you receive free lodging and food of a modest standard. In addition, your work (reading fortunes, conducting séances, providing herbal remedies to the sick, selling protective trinkets...) leads your clients to open up and tell you things, allowing you access to information they might not publicly share about themselves or others in their community.

ProficiencyTools: Thieves tools (+5 Pick Locks*), herbalism kit
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Armors: Light Bonus +2 Saving Throws Dex, Int

Speed 30 (60 w/Cunning Action Dash)

Actions

Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
Dagger +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, light, thrown (20/60)
Dart +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, thrown (20/60)
Sling +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] bludgeoning damage | Ammunition (30/120)
Knife +6 to hit for [1d3+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light

Bonus Actions

Knife (2 Weapon Fighting) +6 to hit for [1d3 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light
Cunning ActionStarting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. (Dash, Disengage, Hide, Mage Hand LegerdemainStarting at 3rd level, when you cast mage hand, you can make the spectral hand invisible, and you can perform the following additional tasks with it:

>You can stow one object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can retrieve an object in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can use thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.

You can perform one of these tasks without being noticed by a creature if you succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creature's Wisdom (Perception) check.

In addition, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.)
Steady AimAs a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Reactions

Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.
Opportunity Attack (with additional Sneak Attack)

Other/Free Actions

Oracle's InsightThe gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spell Save DC: 12 | Spell Attack Mod: +4

Cantrips Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8). | Mage HandConjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute

A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.

The hand can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds. | MessageTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a short piece of copper wire)
Duration: 1 round

You point your finger toward a creature within range and whisper a message. The target (and only the target) hears the message and can reply in a whisper that only you can hear.

You can cast this spell through solid objects if you are familiar with the target and know it is beyond the barrier. Magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood blocks the spell. The spell doesn't have to follow a straight line and can travel freely around corners or through openings. | Minor IllusionIllusion cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: S, M (a bit of fleece)
Duration: 1 minute

You create a sound or an image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a lion's roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.

If you create an image of an object—such as a chair, muddy footprints, or a small chest—it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it.

If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature. | PrestidigitationTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Up to 1 hour

This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

>You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
>You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
>You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
>You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
>You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
>You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

Spells Disguise Self1st-level illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour

You make yourself—including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person—look different until the spell ends or until you use your action to dismiss it. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can't change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the illusion is up to you.

The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair.

To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. | Find FamiliarCasting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Additional animal form choices may be available at the DM's discretion.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. | Mage Armor1st-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a piece of cured leather)
Duration: 8 hours

You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action. | Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.

Rituals Augury2nd-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp)
Duration: Instantaneous

By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:

>Weal, for good results
>Woe, for bad results
>Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
>Nothing, for results that aren't especially good or bad

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.

If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Wizard of the Coat (see edit history)

Neopopulas · March 23, 2023

Damaia Hazil
AC: 19Armour: 14
Dexterity: +1
Shield: +2
Dueling style +2| HP: 36 (*Abjuration Ward;
When casting an Abjuration Spell of 1st level or higher.
Gain Wizard level x2+Int mod as a Ward.
Whenever you cast Abjuration magic - even if the ward is at 0 - add a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell.) | Proficiency: +2 | Initiative: +1 | Passive Perception: 12 | Speed: 30ft
Saves: Str +4 | Dex +1 | Con +4 | Int +5 | Wis +0 | Cha +0 | Resistances: Fire, Necrotic, Radiant
Special Abilities: Cloak of StarsEffect: Disadvantage on attacks against you for 1 minute.

As an action, you wrap yourself in a starry cloak, appearing like a silhouette forms of the night sky. When you doe, attack rolls have disadvantage against you. This cloak lasts for 1 minute, until you doff it (no action), or until you die. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest., Second WindOn turn, bonus action to regain 1d10+Fighter Level HP.

Once per short/long rest., Darkvision60ft

Thanks to your Infernal heritage, you have superior Vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in Darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in Darkness, only Shades of Gray.
Attacks: Long Sword [+2 | 1d8+2 Slashing. (Versatile. 1d10)] | Long Bow [+3 | 1d8+1. 150/600]
Spells; DC: 15. Attack +7. Spells Prepared 7. | Cantrips: Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Green-Flame Blade, Thaumaturgy
Level 1 [▣ ▣] | Magic Missile, Shield, Burning Hands, Grease, Absorb Elements, False Life, Frost Fingers

"I have found that running only causes more problems down the road but lets not be.. too hasty.." though her hand hovered near her sword, and she has her shield at the ready she was still prepared for anything.

Mechanics

Main Hand: Long sword

Off Hand: Shield

Action:

Edited March 23, 2023 by Neopopulas (see edit history)

TheWordWeaver · March 23, 2023

The Serene Holds of Urzoa

Chapter 1: Unrest in Baromenes Part 1: A Gathering of Wanderers

🎵 Theme 🎵

PART 1:
A GATHERING OF WANDERERS

"Fight you will, as I've said I've only come to warn you, consider this your only warning." Death raised a skeletal hand and from it, a box appeared in a blaze of black flame. "When the time comes, you will need this. do not lose it." The box was small, about the size of a small jewelry box. The lid was hinged open, revealing a small vacant red plush on which something could be placed. Death then looked to Mags "By my count, thirty seconds. Do not be mistaken if I were sent here to take your lives there'd be no need to 'set you up'." She says as she moves closer, leans down, and places the box on the cobblestone floor. There is no malice in her words, only a certain finality. Death takes a few steps back, "Endure the darkness, make our stand." Death mimicked as she slowly turned and walked away phasing through Billie's shadow that seemed to jitter as she did so. "I always loved the way you mortals fought for life. It makes the ending that much sweeter."

With each step, she slowly dissipated into smoke, slowly slinking into the earth. "Good luck, Heroes..." These were the final words that resounded throughout the area as her form fully disappeared from this realm leaving behind a black mark of decay upon the stones where she had made her exit. The cold was replaced with warmth, birds could be heard in the distance. The next few moments all seemed to happen in a blur. First the heavy sounds of footsteps. Then the sword in Billie's hand begins to thum in her grasp.

From the outskirts around you, twelve of what look to be guards circle you. These however are not the city guard you've seen before, these people wear a mismatch of silver and black armor, each adorned with Chains in various manors as if cobbled together themselves. Each with a spear at the ready, however, they do not strike. The lines break for a moment and two individuals stop 30 feet from you. One is a tall orc, a scar runs down one side of his face over a clouded eye. He looks battered and worn, one of his tusks is broken. He smiles when he sees the box in front of you.

"Thiovanya was right, the box and the pawns all in one area. Ripe for the picking." The orc says unsheathing his blade from his back, his voice a gruff bark over the running water behind you.

"Don't get too messy this time, last time you got blood all over my armor." The other man complained. He was human or at least once was human. His skin was a sickly gray color and his eyes were sunken. "If you give us the box, without a fight. We will make your deaths painless." The man called out. He held a longsword in one hand and held his other outstretched. "Why die tired?"

Baromenes
3:04 pm
Wineday (Wednesday), 17th of Midsummer, 495 AC

SCENE INSTRUCTIONS
Our Heroes are surrounded by danger on all sides. A deal has been offered, will they take it? What will they do?

We are not in initiative yet, I'm guessing that will not be the case very soon XD. There are 12 guards surrounding you on all sides and 2 higher-ups within 30 feet of the box and you and 15 feet from Billie's Echo. I will be making a battle map if you all would like to use one. If you would like to roll any checks just let me know.

Edited March 23, 2023 by TheWordWeaver (see edit history)

Wizard of the Coat · March 23, 2023

Mags Kategaris - Itinerant Hedge Wizard

AC: 14 (17with Mage Armor) | HP: 30/30 | Initiative: +4Oracular Insight (I'll often use this for important initiative checks)
"The gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest." | Passive Perception: 17 | Spell Slots 1/2 (1st)

Death locked her eyes on Mags "By my count, thirty seconds. Do not be mistaken if I were sent here to take your lives there'd be no need to 'set you up'."

From some safe corner of his mind, Mags noted that the overwhelming aura did not increase when she turned her attention to him and addressed him. He opened his mouth to explain his comment, but stopped, his training kicking in. Let her believe what she wanted, he would not give away his understanding and thinking--not for free, anyway.

The sword in Billie's hand began to thum in her grasp.

That can't be good.

As the enemies filed into the mall, he realized he was out of his depths. A battle with a military unit? He'd fought for his life before, but always when the odds where in his favored or he had a clear advantage, and a clear escape was in sight, and the enemies were highwaymen-thugs or wilderness predators. He took comfort in the fact that he was not alone, and prayed that these women were better at fighting and magic then he was.

"If you give us the box, without a fight. We will make your deaths painless." The man called out. He held a longsword in one hand and held his other outstretched. "Why die tired?"

Mags had heard enough. He had no clue about the tactics required to defeat an organized band of mercenaries, but he knew how to fool people with magic. The Wizard's First Rule. He guessed he had a handful of seconds before Billie got things started. He had to act quickly. It would take precise timing, but he was pretty sure he could pull it off.

Turning his side to the two enemy leaders, he walked perpendicular to their line, passing behind Billie, momentarily obscuring their view of him. As he passed behind Billie, he made a few arcane passes with his free hand, doing his best to prevent the two enemy leaders from seeing the details of his work. Assuming they were competent, they would realizing he was working magic, but he hoped to prevent them from easily determining which spell in particular he'd cast.

He timed the spell and his passing so that the exchange would occur during that brief second in which he was out of their view. He hoped his movement, and the arcane movements of his free hand, would attract the eye of the leaders.

And then he looked to the box and released his spell with a flourish, crating an illusory duplicate of the box, the tiniest fraction of an inch larger than the original in all dimensions, covering the original. And a moment later, at his mental command, the invisible hand grasped the true box and it vanished--leaving only his illusory duplicate.

Standing on Billie's other side, he smiled, addressing his companions in a voice loud enough for the two enemy leaders to overhear, "I've trapped the box with my magic. Very dangerous. Don't touch it until I tell you it's safe."

The invisible hand, now carrying the invisible box, flew behind him and deposited its invisible contents into Mags' pocket before flying to hover near the two enemy leaders.

Mechanics

Main Hand: dagger (with Ullmalyte Stone of the War Mage)

Off Hand: free for casting

Note: We're not in combat yet, so hopefully the timing I've described in the IC can be more easily achieved. But here's what it would look like if we were in combat.

Move: As described in the IC. (I'll revise once we have a map)

Free Interact with Objects: --

Action: Cast Minor Illusion to create a duplicate of the box in the exact same spot, covering the real box.

Bonus Action: manipulate the invisible Mage Hand to pick up the real box (turning it invisible) and move it behind Mags--out of view of the two enemy leaders.

Familiar's Move:

Familiar's Action: Still hiding, making Perception check looking for hidden enemies or other tricky stuff.

Note 1: Mags previously cast Mage Armor on himself. (see previous posts)

Note 2: Mage Hand currently active

Statblock

Male Human (Varient) Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 3

Languages Halaea Common, Grehesian Common, Khazian Common, Malek Common, Celestial, Irodesi, Thieves' Cant

Background Hedge Wizard Background Feature The Common Folks' WizardWhen you arrive in smaller communities in your role as hedge wizard, you receive free lodging and food of a modest standard. In addition, your work (reading fortunes, conducting séances, providing herbal remedies to the sick, selling protective trinkets...) leads your clients to open up and tell you things, allowing you access to information they might not publicly share about themselves or others in their community.

ProficiencyTools: Thieves tools (+5 Pick Locks*), herbalism kit
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Armors: Light Bonus +2 Saving Throws Dex, Int

Speed 30 (60 w/Cunning Action Dash)

Actions

Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
Dagger +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, light, thrown (20/60)
Dart +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, thrown (20/60)
Sling +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] bludgeoning damage | Ammunition (30/120)
Knife +6 to hit for [1d3+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light

Bonus Actions

Knife (2 Weapon Fighting) +6 to hit for [1d3 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light
Cunning ActionStarting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. (Dash, Disengage, Hide, Mage Hand LegerdemainStarting at 3rd level, when you cast mage hand, you can make the spectral hand invisible, and you can perform the following additional tasks with it:

>You can stow one object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can retrieve an object in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can use thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.

You can perform one of these tasks without being noticed by a creature if you succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creature's Wisdom (Perception) check.

In addition, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.)
Steady AimAs a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Reactions

Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.
Opportunity Attack (with additional Sneak Attack)

Other/Free Actions

Oracle's InsightThe gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spell Save DC: 12 | Spell Attack Mod: +4

Cantrips Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8). | Mage HandConjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute

A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.

The hand can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds. | MessageTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a short piece of copper wire)
Duration: 1 round

You point your finger toward a creature within range and whisper a message. The target (and only the target) hears the message and can reply in a whisper that only you can hear.

You can cast this spell through solid objects if you are familiar with the target and know it is beyond the barrier. Magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood blocks the spell. The spell doesn't have to follow a straight line and can travel freely around corners or through openings. | Minor IllusionIllusion cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: S, M (a bit of fleece)
Duration: 1 minute

You create a sound or an image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a lion's roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.

If you create an image of an object—such as a chair, muddy footprints, or a small chest—it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it.

If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature. | PrestidigitationTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Up to 1 hour

This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

>You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
>You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
>You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
>You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
>You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
>You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

Spells Disguise Self1st-level illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour

You make yourself—including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person—look different until the spell ends or until you use your action to dismiss it. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can't change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the illusion is up to you.

The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair.

To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. | Find FamiliarCasting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Additional animal form choices may be available at the DM's discretion.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. | Mage Armor1st-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a piece of cured leather)
Duration: 8 hours

You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action. | Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.

Rituals Augury2nd-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp)
Duration: Instantaneous

By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:

>Weal, for good results
>Woe, for bad results
>Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
>Nothing, for results that aren't especially good or bad

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.

If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Wizard of the Coat (see edit history)

fenrirlokison · March 23, 2023

Lulani Zenar'inan - Shadar Kai Hexblade Warlock of the Tome

AC: 14 | HP: 22/22 | Initiative: +3 | Passive Perception: 13

Lulani swallowed hard, she had thought the person before them as a messenger of death, and to have it confirmed seemed to have dried her throat a bit. She let a slow breath out, trying to keep calm. Her eyes cut to Mags after he makes his statement. She had not taken him for the sort to stand and fight... but perhaps she was wrong. If one of these strangers decided to stand and fight, there was no doubt that her sister would stay as well.

"Time to dance." , she touches her sister once more, but this time was not to give pause. The touch transferred magic power to her sister to help her. Lulani shifted only to get closer to the middle of the area.

Action

* Guidance: for @Rumrunner Once before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to one ability check of its choice. It can roll the die before or after making the ability check. The spell then ends.

Map. PW: Serene

Edited March 23, 2023 by fenrirlokison (see edit history)

Rumrunner · March 23, 2023

Wilhelmina "Billie" Zenar'Inan - Shadar Kai Echo Knight Fighter

AC: 16 | HP: 35/35 | Initiative: +2 | Passive Perception: 13

The blackeyed warrior swayed, twisting on the balls of her feet to face the new comers. As they taunted, her smile widened with glee, like a child watching a tray of fresh cookies come out of the oven. "You boys are awful desperate for a box, but lets at least dance a lil first... I don't stop until my knees are weak.." lulled her head toward the Tiefling. "Oh Damaia... game's changed. Point per piss-ant, three each for these two. The porker is mine." She waved her oversized bastard sword at the two who came forward with a loose wrist as her sister gave the signal...

"Time to Dance..." ...and she was gone. For a split second the warrior twin vanished completely only to appear mid-air behind the orc as a ghostly translucent whirlwind in the midst a maniac downward swing. As the metal screeched, she landed, crouching and coiling, as she twisted it was as if she was reeling the shadow double of herself towards them. It flew, feet not to touch the earth as it ran at the speed of darkness, its black mirror blade thrusting forward like a lance at the orcine belly.

Black Billie Dim drew back her thrusting sword, and Billie Zenar'Inan uncoiled, spinning like a top back at the orc and doing her damnedest to splash as much blood on the pale faced bastard beside him as possible. Her impetus again carried her shadow in, in their deadly dance as it's blade obsidian Dim struck home.

Mechanics

Main Hand: Greatsword
Off Hand: more greatsword

Bonus Action 1: Raven Queen step 30ft behind the orc, (if I need to walk a few steps first so be it), resistance to all damage until next turn
Action 2: Greatsword Attack on Orc... No action to move Shadow, Use Unleash incarnation for Echo attack.
Action 3: Lets rince and repeat! Action Surge!

Neopopulas · March 24, 2023

Damaia Hazil
AC: 17Armour: 14
Dexterity: +1
Shield: +2| HP: 36 (*Abjuration Ward;
When casting an Abjuration Spell of 1st level or higher.
Gain Wizard level x2+Int mod as a Ward.
Whenever you cast Abjuration magic - even if the ward is at 0 - add a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell.) | Proficiency: +2 | Initiative: +1 | Passive Perception: 12 | Speed: 30ft
Saves: Str +4 | Dex +1 | Con +4 | Int +5 | Wis +0 | Cha +0 | Resistances: Fire, Necrotic, Radiant
Special Abilities: Cloak of StarsEffect: Disadvantage on attacks against you for 1 minute.

As an action, you wrap yourself in a starry cloak, appearing like a silhouette forms of the night sky. When you doe, attack rolls have disadvantage against you. This cloak lasts for 1 minute, until you doff it (no action), or until you die. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest., Second WindOn turn, bonus action to regain 1d10+Fighter Level HP.

Once per short/long rest., Darkvision60ft

Thanks to your Infernal heritage, you have superior Vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in Darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in Darkness, only Shades of Gray.
Attacks: Long Sword [+2 | 1d8+4 Slashing. (Dueling / Versatile. 1d10)] | Long Bow [+3 | 1d8+1. 150/600]
Spells; DC: 15. Attack +7. Spells Prepared 7. | Cantrips: Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Green-Flame Blade, Thaumaturgy
Level 1 [▣ □] | Magic Missile, Shield, Burning Hands, Grease, Absorb Elements, False Life, Frost Fingers

If anything, Damaia seems slightly disappointed by the sudden need for violence, but she was prepared. "Very well i suppose there is no other option." It was directed at Billie though, and not their attackers.

She takes a few short steps away from the group to give her a better angle, aiming to encompass as many of the enemy rank and file as she can. She does not hide, nor try to deceive them, she is very clear about her intention as she races her hands.

With an intoned spell and a fan of her fingers gouts of flame erupt from between her hands and engulf the would-be attackers

Mechanics

Main Hand: Long sword

Off Hand: Shield

Movement: Moving to try and catch the 'boss' longswordsman as well as as many of the moonks as i can in that 15ft cone.
Action;
Casting: Burning Hands
15ft cone.
Dex save (15) for half.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Neopopulas (see edit history)

Wizard of the Coat · March 24, 2023

Mags Kategaris - Itinerant Hedge Wizard

AC: 14 (17with Mage Armor) | HP: 30/30 | Initiative: +4Oracular Insight (I'll often use this for important initiative checks)
"The gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest." | Passive Perception: 17 | Spell Slots 1/2 (1st)

Mags stood staring dumbly as Billie made her move. She was so fast! And fierce! And she, not the now vanished Herald, was controlling that shadowy mirror image! And it was fight for her--with her!

And then Damaia stepped forward and blasted the pale-faced leader with fire!

These were some dangerous women!

Mags didn't like the position Billie had occupied: right in the middle of three enemies--including the two leaders. If they all turned on her, she'd be battered. As far as he could tell, she had the orc on the defensive and would likely take him down before he could strike. But then she'd be flanked by the other two. If he could take one of those two down, she'd have more time to do her thing. He guessed the pale-faced leader would take much longer to go down, so....

Mags drew a knife with his free hand and sprang into action. Moving with surprising speed, he sprinted a path just beyond the reach of the orc's blade, rolling under the spear of the foot soldier at Billie's back, finishing the roll on his feet, weapons in hand, standing behind the surprised foot soldier. Mags slashed at the back of the soldier's neck, just above a chain draped there, cutting through the spine, hoping end him quickly and mercifully.

Mags assumed Lu was just as lethal as Billie, maybe more so, since Billie seemed to follow her lead; but Dae was another matter. She still looked fragile to him, road weary, half starved. Why hadn't she eaten the pie? "Dae, get over here, at this end of the square, behind me."

Mechanics

Main Hand: dagger (with Ullmalyte Stone of the War Mage)

Off Hand: knife

Free Interact with Objects: draw knife

Move + Bonus Action (Dash): Moving along a path to the enemy standing behind Billie, staying 10 feet away from the Orc in order to avoid opportunity attacks. [NOTE: in the IC description the Orc is carrying a "blade." I'm assuming this is a non-reach weapon. If it's not, I'll revise Mags' movement/action.]

Action: Attack with dagger (flanking advantage & sneak attack)

If-Then Movement: If Mag's attack takes the soldier down, Mags has 4 squares of movement left, so he will move to flank the Orc, providing advantage to Billie and her Echo, so she can finish the bugger off.

Familiar's Move: Move to check confirm that the alley is not a dead end

Familiar's Action: Dash

Note 1: Current spells active: Mage Armor, Mage Hand.

Statblock

Male Human (Varient) Rogue (Arcane Trickster) 3

Languages Halaea Common, Grehesian Common, Khazian Common, Malek Common, Celestial, Irodesi, Thieves' Cant

Background Hedge Wizard Background Feature The Common Folks' WizardWhen you arrive in smaller communities in your role as hedge wizard, you receive free lodging and food of a modest standard. In addition, your work (reading fortunes, conducting séances, providing herbal remedies to the sick, selling protective trinkets...) leads your clients to open up and tell you things, allowing you access to information they might not publicly share about themselves or others in their community.

ProficiencyTools: Thieves tools (+5 Pick Locks*), herbalism kit
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Armors: Light Bonus +2 Saving Throws Dex, Int

Speed 30 (60 w/Cunning Action Dash)

Actions

Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8).
Dagger +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, light, thrown (20/60)
Dart +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] piercing damage. | Finesse, thrown (20/60)
Sling +6 to hit for [1d4+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] bludgeoning damage | Ammunition (30/120)
Knife +6 to hit for [1d3+4 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light

Bonus Actions

Knife (2 Weapon Fighting) +6 to hit for [1d3 (+2d6 w/sneak attack)] slashing damage | Finesse, light
Cunning ActionStarting at 2nd level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. (Dash, Disengage, Hide, Mage Hand LegerdemainStarting at 3rd level, when you cast mage hand, you can make the spectral hand invisible, and you can perform the following additional tasks with it:

>You can stow one object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can retrieve an object in a container worn or carried by another creature.
>You can use thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.

You can perform one of these tasks without being noticed by a creature if you succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creature's Wisdom (Perception) check.

In addition, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.)
Steady AimAs a bonus action, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven't moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

Reactions

Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.
Opportunity Attack (with additional Sneak Attack)

Other/Free Actions

Oracle's InsightThe gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spell Save DC: 12 | Spell Attack Mod: +4

Cantrips Booming BladeEvocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp)
Duration: 1 round

You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects and then becomes sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If the target willingly moves 5 feet or more before then, the target takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends.

This spell's damage increases when you reach certain levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes for moving increases to 2d8. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 3d8) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 4d8). | Mage HandConjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute

A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.

The hand can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds. | MessageTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a short piece of copper wire)
Duration: 1 round

You point your finger toward a creature within range and whisper a message. The target (and only the target) hears the message and can reply in a whisper that only you can hear.

You can cast this spell through solid objects if you are familiar with the target and know it is beyond the barrier. Magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood blocks the spell. The spell doesn't have to follow a straight line and can travel freely around corners or through openings. | Minor IllusionIllusion cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: S, M (a bit of fleece)
Duration: 1 minute

You create a sound or an image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a lion's roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.

If you create an image of an object—such as a chair, muddy footprints, or a small chest—it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it.

If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature. | PrestidigitationTransmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Up to 1 hour

This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

>You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
>You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
>You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
>You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
>You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
>You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

Spells Disguise Self1st-level illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour

You make yourself—including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person—look different until the spell ends or until you use your action to dismiss it. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can't change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the illusion is up to you.

The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair.

To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. | Find FamiliarCasting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Additional animal form choices may be available at the DM's discretion.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. | Mage Armor1st-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a piece of cured leather)
Duration: 8 hours

You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action. | Silvery Barbs1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll.

You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time.

Rituals Augury2nd-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp)
Duration: Instantaneous

By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:

>Weal, for good results
>Woe, for bad results
>Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
>Nothing, for results that aren't especially good or bad

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.

If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Wizard of the Coat (see edit history)

Rumrunner · March 24, 2023

Wilhelmina "Billie" Zenar'Inan - Shadar Kai Echo Knight Fighter

AC: 16 | HP: 35/35 | Initiative: +2 | Passive Perception: 13

The loved it, the tug on her blade as it resisted, then the eruption of momentum as it was freed. Others were moving now, she had definitely expected the Magpie to take flight not peck so savagely, but she did appreciate the participation. She swayed, her shadow before her stepping back to protect her sister.

As the orc warrior turned to face her, she blinked, black lids over backened orbs of pitch, then clenched her teeth, to brace herself for the impact of her upward strike. Her blade rang on his metal, Clangggg and she swayed to the music of it, Clanggg, again the orcs arms went upward.

His tusked face grinned, ready to come down on her with his sword as she was wide open. Then he realized there was a reason she didn't care. It was the tip of the black blade sticking out from his chest that had run him through. as her echo had stepped back to finish him.

Then she blinked, swapping places with her shadow so she could draw her own sword free from the body as it fell, again splashing as much on the pale face fellow and then walked casually back to her sister with a bow.

"It seems I lost my dancing partner Lula, who should I dance with next?"

Mechanics

Main Hand: Greatsword
Off Hand: more greatsword

Action 2: Greatsword Attack on Orc... No action to move Shadow a 5ft square south. then move it up one square NE and release incarnation to attack.

Bonus Action 1: Swap places with shadow and position Billie two squares north of Lunani.

ariel · March 24, 2023

Dae

Too fast, too fast. Dae's tired thoughts struggled to swim through a great tide of fatigue. Am I in a fight? It had been such a long time since she had to battle anyone outside of a drunken patron or stray dog. Mags voice broke through the waves. ... get behind him?

She glanced over, to see where "behind him" was. It seemed far, but she had to try. The orc, scarred from the earlier battles he'd survived, was succumbing to the blades of Billie and her shadow. She had a chance and she ran.

OOC

Move + dash action: moving 60 ft to behind Mags, trying to get partial cover from the corner of the building.

Main hand: pastry pie

Off hand: free

Status: Protection from evil/good (9-ish min remaining)

Edited March 24, 2023 by ariel (see edit history)

Text_1	Text_2	Text_3	Bold_1	Accent_1	Mood_1
Warm_1	Warm_2	Warm_3	Bold_2	Accent_2	Mood_2
Cool_1	Cool_2	Cool_3	Bold_3	Accent_3	Mood_3
Bright_1	Bright_2	Bright_3	Bold_4	Accent_4	Mood_4

Chapter 1 - Unrest in Baromenes

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