DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder 3M - Thunderbolts and Lightning, Very Very Frightening

DM

The adventurers bid their farewells to the barbarian tribe and head back toward Evermoor way, resuming their journey.

The detour took a few hours so they're a bit behind schedule, but still appear to be on track to reach their destination in four days.

The travel is mostly uneventful.

Late in the afternoon, about an hour from their planned stopping point, some occasional bright flashes of light can be seen miles ahead of them.

[OOC Jaliera has instructed Whisper to return immediately she sees anything large in the sky]

Davroar

Curious as to what the lights might be, he stops to whisper to spirits of nature into his cupped hands to reveal if they will be experiencing bad weather.

[ooc: casting Druidcraft ]

DM

Whisper doesn't see anything in the sky for miles. Not even clouds. Whatever the light source is, it's much closer to the ground near the horizon ahead.

Davroar's whispering results in a golden orb, indicating clear, sunny skies.

Jaliera

"Not sure what those bright flashes are. Once we get a bit closer, I'll send Whisper to take a look."

If Whisper is out of range and something happens, she will have no idea what her owl might have seen. An unnecessary risk she feels.

<Bern>

A part of him wanted to avoid the 'distraction'. But he was also curious. It did not sound like anything he had ever heard of and it might be educational to find out what it was. He nodded. "Lets get going then", he suggested. Sooner started, sooner they would have their answer.

DM

The party proceeds along the road, the occasional flashing still occurring. It's not that frequent, perhaps one or two flashes in a five minute period, randomly spaced, and still reasonably close to their path so they don't even need to go out of their way to find it.

When they are close enough for Whisper to fly within about a mile of the light source, the familiar manages to catch one of the flashes, and returns to Jaliera to share the mental image:

Jaliera

She gives Whisper the command to keep her distance and then relays the information to the others.

"I think it would be bad if the giants got hold of this. We should retrieve it."

Zhu

She nods. "Indeed." She increases her pace forwards.

Arus

"We would probably need a giant to retrieve it." says the triton from horseback.

From what's described to him, he imagines a sword of gigantic proportions and over 30 feet long.

Glork

I try. Birdies Itty bitty. Glork not

DM

Whisper obeys Jaliera's command to keep "being shocked" to a mental state and not a physical one, continuing to watch ahead.

As for the party, as they approach, they see exactly the same thing described: a massive greatsword with its point embedded into the ground, about a hundred feet off the side of the road. The charred corpses of birds litter the ground nearby, giving off the same smell as a freshly-cooked dinner (which may save the party some hunting tonight). There are dozens of such birds, far too few for more than about a day's worth at the rate the flashes were seen, indicating that either the sword was placed (or fell) within the last day or so, or that other creatures (human or otherwise) have enjoyed snacking on the free meals.

One detail about the sword that Whisper did not see: in its pommel is a diamond-shaped stone carved from coral, on which is carved a curious shape.



The party's presence does dissuade other birds from approaching, at least for now.

Sindar

"My concern," he comments to the ogre, "is the lightning. You aren't immune are you?" He thought about what he knew regarding magical effects and didn't immediately come up with a way to protect the ogre from the effect even temporarily.

[OOC: Is there a resist lightning dmg style spell in 5e?]

Glork

On seeing the stone in the pommel, Glork roars in rage, "Magic Giants!!! These same that destroyed Glork's home! Lightning stone look like fire stone!" It is obvious that Glork wants to reach out to remove the sword but is holding back scared of the danger.

DM

Indeed, Glork's comment ought to remind everyone in the party of his earlier description of a runestone.

<Bern>

He continues to look about. He is not sure that this was not 'set up' to focus their attention on the sword so that 'they' could attack while they were distracted.

Davroar

Walking up to the giant sword, but not getting any closer than 15 feet to it, he looks closely at the blade itself to try to see how deep it might be stuck into the ground. Out loud he says to himself, "Wonder if we loop rope around the cross guard if we can pull it down?"

It's obviously too big other for any of them to use, except perhaps Glork, but Davroar would like to try and prevent more avian deaths from happening here.

Jaliera

"I can cast Mage Hand which would allow me to extract the sword, I think, without getting zapped. If we lay out some cloaks on the floor, I can put the sword on them, then we can wrap it up."

She is wondering how heavy it might be and what limits her spell may have as she has not tested it like this.

<Bern>

He shrugs off his pack and rummages for his blanket. He moves to lay it out where Jaliera indicated.

(OOC - Aquadyne - Yes. There are several spells. One is Protection from Energy. It works on any type of energy, you just have to select the type when you cast the spell.
Gypsy - Double check the weight limit on Mage Hand.)

Zhu

She examines the Rune cautiously, not touching or approaching too close. Taking out a piece of parchment and charcoal stick she carefully copies it for later reference, indicating 'Lightning' next to it.

DM

Davroar's assessment indicates pulling the sword over with a rope is unlikely. Twenty feet of the sword are visible, but assuming it has similar dimensions to its smaller cousins wielded by humans, there may be nearly ten feet buried. It's unlikely that Glork could wield it, either. Towering over the party at about ten feet high, he's still only about half the size of the part above ground.

On closer inspection, it appears it may not be necessary to pull down the whole sword, however, if one could pry the stone out of its spot in the pommel. Which would be easy if one were twenty feet tall.

[If we took a long rest, Davroar could prepare Protection from Energy as a 3rd level spell since he's a druid. Or better yet, prepare Summon Elemental, summon an air elemental to fly up and prise out the rune stone.

However, given the ample healing we have available at present, someone with good Athletics could probably just climb with a grappling hook and grin and bear it.

So AquaDyne, quick question: What time of the day is it? or, how far are we off having to make camp for the night.]

<Bern>

"How about if we got a couple of branches and used them on the hilt to lift the blade? Would any magic be able to get to the stick wielders", he asked.

Zindra

She turned to Glork, "Sindar is right. Best be more than careful. That bird made a big mistake," she said glancing at the charred bird.

The half elf stayed back and let the others examine the sword. Meanwhile, she searched the area for tracks and other signs of someone coming or going that were not in the party.

Zindra Search for tracks and other signs
Neptune rolled 1d20+5 and got 10

Zindra Search for tracks and other signs (advantage if giants)
Neptune rolled 1d20+5 and got 14