DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder 3R - Things that go Bump in the Night

DM

The party finishes their various conversations, with the occasional guard moving around or exchanging duties with another. The guards seem uninterested in the party, and occasionally stoke the fire. It seems it's someone's job (or several someones) to stay up overnight as part of this town's attempt to assure safety of its occupants, their goods, and the local agriculture.

Most of the inn's rooms -- and all available for the party -- are in the basement level, accessed by a set of stairs going down from the northwest corner of the common room.

[OOC: Feel free to assume you're in any of the rooms. It matters little; we'll start grid play at the top of the stairs.]


The flickering light of lanterns casts long shadows across the hallways. Soft snores and the occasional mumbled word can occasionally be heard behind some of the closed doors. It's the perfect place to catch up on some rest.

Suddenly, in the darkest hours in the middle of the night, the tranquility is shattered by a piercing scream, the desperate cry of a familiar voice that echoes through the wooden beams of the inn. It's the young stable girl, the same one who had met the party around the stables earlier in the day. The scream is filled with terror and pain, carrying an urgency that cuts through the veil of sleep and commands immediate attention.

The wooden floor above creaks beneath the weight of footsteps, hurried movements of guards and those few with rooms upstairs as they scramble to their feet. The innkeeper's wife, a stout woman with worry etched on her face, appears at the top of the stairs, calling down loudly, desperately hoping for help from anyone willing. "Something's happening in the stables!" she exclaims, her voice trembling with fear.

OOC: Roll for initiative.

Pavel

Pavel looked back to Jaliera after he filled up the tankard of ale. She'd said a lot more that should be addressed but he doubted the rest of the group was very receptive at the moment due to the late night and drink. He also noticed that it seemed the rest of the party had headed to bed.

" We might need to pick up the conversation in the morning. Seems we won't be heading to the Great Forest in the morning anyway. I have some business here. In fact it seems to be pumpkin time."

He looks sadly at the untouched tankard. "Sad to waste this though." He says as he offers the fresh tankard to the man seeming to guard the common room.

"I am off to bed myself." He tells the remaining members of the party.

He heads to his room tired from a long day of waiting for the party to arrive. He lays there thinking of the conversations from the evening. Just as he is drifting off to sleep he hears the scream.

Dressing quickly he rushes into the hallway sword in hand.

Pavel Initiative
Miales rolled 1d20 and got 7

Forgot he was +3 on Initiative so a 10

Zhu

As normal, she sits on the floor of her room, cross-legged, in Reverie, so when the scream occurs she is instantly up, dressed and armed and heading to the stairs.


Zhu Initiative
Zeim rolled d20+8 and got 14

[[ Bern Init MikeD rolled d20+3 and got 4 ]]

Zindra
She had been nursing her drinks, trying to stay awake and alert. But it was getting late and there was no need to further the discussions. They would wait until morning. So she went to her room and began to prepare for bed when the commotion started. She grabbed her weapons and went to see what was going on.

Zindra Initiative
Neptune rolled 1d20+3 and got 7

Jaliera

She had assisted Davroar downstairs and into bed and he had fallen into a deep sleep. She wakes suddenly in th middle of the night by a scream.. and then a woman calling out about trouble in the stables.

Gypsy Initiative
Gypsy rolled 1d20+4 and got 11

Davroar

He leans on Jaliera for support to their room, and promptly goes to sleep. He is not a large man, so it does not take too much to get drunk, but the scream is enough to pierce his grogginess as he sits up mumbles "What the hell!" as he pulls on his boots, grabs his staff, and will head up stairs with Jaliera.

Davroar Initiative
Dugan rolled 1d20 and got 19

DM

Davroar manages to reach the stairs first, and emerges into the dimly lit common room next to the bar. A long corridor leads straight from there toward the stables, where the anguished scream of Lily, the young stable girl, is now eerily amplified by the corridor's acoustics and beckons anyone willing to rescue. It is a desperate cry for help, but it is abruptly cut short, replaced by a sickening thud that resonates through the wooden structure.

Horses, usually silent companions in their stalls, now join in the chorus of making their fear known. Their panicked neighs and the vibrations of their hooves pounding against the stable floor paint a scene of chaos unfolding in the stables.

A decision presents itself to Davroar: the hallway leading to the stables or the exit door that opens to the outside chaos. The hallway is the faster route to possible rescue, but a more confined approach to whatever the threat is.

A bell rings out an alarm from an unseen room above, awakening all in the town. Some may arrive to help, but certainly not soon enough to help the stable girl or the horses...

Davroar

Hearing the cry and then the obvious thud of probably her falling to the floor, he will go dashing towards the double-doors at the end of the hallway so that he can get to the stables as fast as possible.

Aubric

The elf cleric winces at the thud sound, knowing immediately that he needs to reach the young victim as quickly as possible, regardless of the threat. He races after Davroar down the hallway, overtaking him with his speed... faster than any doppelganger.

Zhu

Seeing two of the group heading down the hallway, she decides that some coming from a different direction could be helpful and so she pivots and heads outside.

Jaliera

She races after Davroar, drawing her bow and grabbing an arrow as she does so.

Zindra
The hunter races into the taproom, spots Zhu and follows her out the back way.

Sindar

As he comes down the stairs, he too decides to head towards the outside to potentially try and catch those fleeing that way.

DM

Davroar, Aubric, and Jaliera are headed down the hallway, while Zhu, Sindar, and Zindra are headed toward the outside entrance (and whatever chaos is happening outside).

OOC: Since we're all just starting out heading in one direction or another, it's ok if we skip initiative order, but once combat starts we'll need to keep it strict.

Speaking of order, Pavel and Kriv can decide who goes first.


Initiative order
Pavel 10 or Kriv 10 (your choice)
Sindar 9
Zindra 7
Arus 6
Bern 4
NPCs 2
Davroar 19
Aubric 18
Zhu 14
Jaliera 11

Kriv

How typical.

Trust a human settlement to get sloppy in its defences. Having swiftly redonned his armor, the Dragonborn recalled the Glasstaff to hand with a thought, and set it ablaze with light with a guttural syllable, all as he hustled from his lodgings and ascended to where the action was. Outside seemed a better option for the moment.

<Bern>

He considers and decides that there is greater need outside where there is more ground to cover.

Pavel

At the bottom of the stairs he spies Davroar and Jaliera. He follows them down the hallway.

DM

The party has split into two groups, with Davroar, Jaliera, Aubric, and Pavel headed the fastest route directly to the stables.



One hopes the indoor group can arrive in time to rescue Lily. The horses are still stomping and neighing in panic, with crashing sounds like the breaking of stall doors clearly audible.

Lily Death Saving Throw
AquaDyne rolled 1d20 and got 2
S=0, F=1

The remainder of the party is headed outside. The first to open the door will see -- and allow those behind them to also see -- two Trolls at the entrance to the stables, where two guardsmen are trying to distract the creatures, throwing rocks at them while calling for reinforcements. Unfortunately, they're hired to keep humanoids in check and are no match for these giant attackers so they're staying well outside of melee range.

Davroar

He will continue to run as fast as he can to get to the far doors leading to the stables.

[ooc: Is there a limit to how many rounds you can dash? ]