DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games LMP: Lost Mines of Phandelver 4 - Wave Echo Cave

<Bern>

"Chandan, you might want to tie a bit of cloth or something to your end so that you can more easily relocate it if it is dropped during an altercation or some such."

Chandan

The old monk nods gratefully to the fine young ranger, though demonstrates the stickiness of the web to him.

Spider silk is tough too, but even the strongest ship carries a lifeboat.

So Chandan reaches into his robe at the waist, rummages around and then whips out his loincloth, wrapping it around the thread.

"Ah better." He says with a pleased smile.

DM
Moments after the spider moves down the passageway, it returns. If a spider could look agitated, this one is.

Jaliera

Davroar is back. No tugs reported. She remembers the chalk. Moving to the wall she writes 'yes' and 'no', then writes 'Danger ahead?'

She waits for a response.

<Bern>

So much for planning, he thought when Davroar returned almost immediately without any pulls or tugs.

Davroar

The magical looking creature he saw in the next cave made him overcautious, returning to the group. He taps twice to signal 'yes' to Jaliera's question and then attempts to describe the thing by pointing to the flame on their torch and then gently taping Jaliera's skull.

His attempt to communicate the danger might not be easily understood, so he will wait to see if Jaliera writes another question.

Chandan

"Danger ahead, flaming skull?" Chandan wonders, twizzling his hair. "What does it mean?" He asks aloud.

To Davroar, "Is it a symbol?" He points to Jaliera's Yes/No. "Is it a creature?"

Jaliera

She is trying to work out why Davroar returned rather than signalling the danger. Clearly his extra signals are not working but the idea that there may be fire ahead unnerves her. Still she tries to focus on a good question.

"You have to write the question Chandan, he can't hear you."

She writes.

'Is it alive?' Then 'Is it intelligent?'

[Spiders have a very acute sense of hearing at close range irl, btw. New Scientist explains.]

[[ we learn something new every day on DreamLyrics ]]

Davroar

He will tap twice for 'yes' to Chandan's question about it being a creature, and will answer the same for Jaliera's questions about it being alive, although he is not sure just how intelligent it is.

[ooc: Interesting article nemarsde. I knew spiders can sense vibrations in the air, but was not so sure that they could actually discern spoken words. I'll let our GM decide if Davroar can hear everyone clearly enough so we don't have to write messages. ]

Chandan

"Flaming skull creature...." The old monk mutters, confounded.

In his long life, he has seen very many things in a very little area. Giants, elementals, and other creatures of the mountain passes, he could tell you about.

Flaming skulls are not amongst them. He has trouble imagining how such a creature could move. Roll along the ground? Float magically? Possible, yes, it must be magical to some extent and its appearance does not bode well.

"Do any of you know what this thing is?" Chandan asks his companions.

[Is there a Knowledge roll in D&D 5e? Even as a player this isn't a monster I know, assuming it's not a magical item of some sort.]

Kriv

The Dragonborn ponders his arcane teachings and scholarly pursuits, but this description rings no bells with him. He shakes his head in the human negative.

Kriv Arcana
AJ rolled 1d20+2 and got 11

[[ clearly Bern is clueless <chuckle> ]]

[Nope, rolled 10 total. No idea.]

Jaliera

She considers the problem, trying to come at it from a different angle.

Jaliera Arcana
Gypsy rolled 1d20+5 and got 23

Hurrah!

DM
While the others don't have a clue, Jaliera recalls hearing about such things being discussed by her mentor.

She recalls that some dark spellcasters can fashion a flaming skull from the remains of dead wizards. Once the ritual is complete, green flames erupt from the skull, completing the transformation. These flameskulls only dimly recall their former life. It might speak with its old voice and recount some key events from the past, but the undead is just an echo of it's former self. The flameskull retains full access to the magic it wielded in life and can cast spells without components. The flameskull is intelligent and vigilant, and serves its creator by protecting a hidden treasure hoard, a secret chamber, or a specific individual. A flameskull carries out the directives given to it when it was created, and it interprets those commands to the letter. A flameskull's master must craft its instructions with care to ensure that the creature carries out its tasks properly.

The fire wreathing a flameskull burns continually, giving off bright light that the creature controls. It uses those flames as a weapon, focusing them to loose them as fiery rays from its eye sockets.

A flameskull's shattered fragments reform unless they are splashed with holy water or subjected to a dispel magic or remove curse spell. If it can no longer fulfill its intended purpose, the re-formed flameskull is beholden to no one and becomes autonomous.

Ryssa


She could not remember ever hearing of such a monster and hoped one of her companions could step forward with the information the group needed.

Jaliera

She points a finger at Chandan with an expression that says 'I got it!'

"Flaming skulls, yes, my Mentor told me about them once. Dark spellcaster can make them from the remains of dead mages. These skulls, wreathed in green flames, can still cast the spells they could before that have no components etc but can also attack with rays of fire. Destroying them is hard as it takes, holy water, dispel magic or remove curse on the remains before they reform. Do we have any of those? And Davroar, does that sound like what you were describing?"

Her eyes are bright. She is sure she is on the right track.

DM
Jaliera would know that holy water or those magics to keep it dead and probably would do normal damage, but that the flameskull was also notoriously resistant.

OOC: Rolling that well should get you something extra

Davroar

He empathically taps twice for 'yes' to Jaliera's question. He is happy that Jaliera seems to know a fair amount about it.
Now it seems they have a choice. Either go in and try to defeat it, or find another way around it.

DM
Now that some form of communication had been established, and the message was relayed, it was time to make the decision. They can either go straight ahead into an assumed danger, down off the escarpment to the left or backwards to explore areas previously bypassed. ooc: Neil, Chandan gets to pick a direction so let us know and move your token in Roll20. Yeah, spotty wifi here but I've got tricks up my sleeve and I'm getting enough connectivity to game on.