Interlude 1

[Papa Bear]

OOC: for making rune stones, General needs "4" points of mystic energy (in terms for making rune stones... The points are different for different things)

Arcane Essence is worth 4 points

Corrupting essence is worth 3

Most of the other options you may or may not have seen are worth 2

And Vital and Sparkling are worth 1

Again, this is only for the Rune Stones

[herastor]

 

Eithne Black Lv. 8 Hexblood Druid (Circle of Stars)

---

AC: 21 | HP: 76/91 | Initiative: +3 | Passive Perception: 21Darkvision 60 ft | Movement: 30 ftFlight 60 ft: 9/10 minutes remaining
StatsSTR 13 (+1)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 16 (+3)
WIS 23 (+6)
CHA 14 (+2) | SavesSTR +2
DEX +4
CON +4
INT +7
WIS +10
CHA +3
Resolve Die 1d20+2
Resolve Check 1d20+12
Corruption Save 1d20+14 | SkillsStealth +6
Sleight of Hand +6 (Untrained)
Nature +9
Animal Handling +9
Insight +9
Medicine +9
Perception +11
Survival +9
Deception +5
Persuasion +5 | Spell Slots1st: 6/6
2nd: 2/3
3rd: 2/3
4th: 2/2
Spell Gem: Snare
Spell Scroll: Detect Poison and Disease
Token: Feather Fall
Hex: 1/LR
Disguise Self: 1/LR
Staff Charges: 10/10 | Hit Dice: 7/7 | Wild Shape: 1/2
Guiding Bolt: 0/3 | Weal/Woe: 3/3

---

Eithne weathered the rebuff with the amount of concern that it deserved, which wasn't much at all to be honest. Getting regularly screamed at by a flock of harpies back home had inured to such things. Eithne met Naz's gaze with her own. She could growl all she wanted, it'd take more than that to make the tender back down.

 

"Ideally," she started with a prod of her staff at Troben, "none of us will fall to this demon. My questions are much the same as Troben's. Anything you think important to answer will be important to remember."

 

Mechanics

 

 

 

[Papa Bear]

"Its Nazara. Only my friends may call me Naz. Though, I still let him call me Naz." The Blood Knight says, jerking her thumb in the direction of the Necromancer.

The necromancer rolls his eyes, just a little. "My name is Turlon-Raal. I have not noticed it harder to cast my spells in the Demon-Lord's realm, but I have noticed that the duration of my spells are greatly reduced, at least the ones that do not have an instant effect. I swear the effects of my spells are reduced as well. It is possible the terrors that we fight there are tougher than other things we've faced in other realms." He explains, tapping his chin as if thinking. "But we have noticed fewer Mystic Energy from kills than we'd gotten previously. I think the realm of this Demon-Lord sucks up magic to power whatever mystic device Its created and all it needs now is to absorb enough magic."

"Well, that's his theory." Nazara says. "My magic hasn't seemed affected."

"Your 'magic' is blood magic. Its quite different. In some ways, its the opposite of mine." Turlon-Raal says. "its more of an internal source of power, like Chi... do you have Chi in your home realm? Regardless, More 'natural' sources of magic seem to be affected less." He points at Eithne. "You have the appearance of a druid. When I say 'natural' magic, I don't mean that which has its origins from nature, as I assume yours does. But rather, magical abilities that come from within. I'm not sure I'm describing that right.

"Nazara is a Blood Knight." He continues. "She has many abilities that have a magical quality about them... like a Paladin, who derives their abilities from their deity. Only hers come from blood; her own and her enemies.' These more 'natural' sources of 'magic' seem to not be as affected as spell casting magic. We had a Sorcerer with us when we first went to that realm. But he was a channeler..."

"Wot be a Channeler?" Tiberion asks.

"A channeler pulls their magic to cast spells from all around them. It can be slower, but the wellspring of magic is virtually limitless as it comes from all living things and flows like rivers through the air unseen. He was killed because his spells were unreliable in that realm. Being that you did not know what a channeler was, I am glad that none of you use that style of spell casting."

---

OOC

Spells cast just fine, but spells with a duration have those durations halved.

Spell/magical damage is rolled at disadvantage, though the damage/effect (including healing) has a minimum of half the higher roll. So, a 2d10 fire bolt cantrip might roll 12 and 4, Because of disadvantage, the 4 is used, BUT half of 12 is 6, so the damage would be 6. If the lower damage roll was 8 instead of 4, then the damage would be 8 as it is with disadvantage. In this way, at least a really good damage roll isn't completely negated by a terrible second roll.

A channeler casts 'sort of' normally. But instead of spell slots, their spells require 'power points' (mana in a lot of video games). They do not 'store' this power in their body. Instead, they begin channeling as an action. They start pulling in Arcane Energy (power points) to use to cast spells. Channelers channel a d4+Casting Modifier (Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma) for the arcane energy that they draw to themselves to use for casting. Spells cost a number of Power Points equal to twice the spell level, (1 pp for cantrips) BUT the channeler loses 1 point of unused Arcane Energy every round. So, rolling a nice fat 7 on their channeling roll would allow a channeler to cast a level 3 spell and lose 1 point to put them back at zero. This takes two rounds; one to channel, one to cast. To cast a level 5 spell, they'd have to channel 10 power points plus 1 per round spent channeling to get there. A channeler hopes to get a couple rounds to channel up some spell power before they go into a fight. If they get some time, only losing 1 power point per round, they can be well prepared for casting a bunch of spells. However, they can not maintain more PP than their casting Ability's score (an INT caster with a 16 INT would only be able to 'hold' up to 16 PP at one time. They just can't contain more than that.

The good thing for channelers is that as they level up, they get to improve their channeling die. They can pretty much always cast (they don't run out of spell slots) BUT it can take them a bit to generate spell power going into a fight. A couple good channeling rolls and yay, they've got a few spells they can cast or be able to drop a big fat one. Their known spells are like a cleric/druid's number of spells they can prepare but can only 'know' spell levels at half their actual level (so, they can know level 3 spells at 5th level like normal D&D casters.)

When he Turlon-Raal speaks of 'natural' magic, he means special abilities, like Troben's echoes and Eithne's archer arrow things. But magical damage, like the fire rune on Troben's sword will suffer the disadvantage on damage rolls (not Troben's weapon damage, just the bonus damage from the rune.)

Edited December 3, 2023 by Papa Bear (see edit history)

[Shadeus]

 

Troben the Ragler

AC: 21 | Hit Points: 96/105 | Passive Perception: 16 | Init: +4 (adv)

Second Wind: 1/1 | Action Surge: 0/1 | Unleash Incarnation: 4/4 | Heroic Strike: 1/1 | Skills+9 Athletics
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Sleight of Hand
+1 Stealth
-1 Arcana
-1 History
-1 Investigation
-1 Nature
-1 Religion
+3 A. Handling
+6 Insight
+3 Medicine
+6 Perception
+3 Survival
+0 Deception
+3 Intimidation
+3 Performance
+0 Persuasion | SavesStrength: +12
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: +7
Intelligence: -1
Wisdom: +6
Charisma: +0 | FeaturesLanguages: Common Abyssal, Giant, Elven

Class Features:
- Fighting Style: Great Weapon FightingWhen you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
- Second WindYou have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
- Action SurgeStarting at 2nd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn.
- Manifest EchoYou can use a bonus action to magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, until you manifest another echo, or until you're incapacitated.

Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.

You can use the echo in the following ways:

- As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your echo at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.
- When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the echo's space. You make this choice for each attack.
- When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.
- Unleash IncarnationYou can heighten your echo's fury. Whenever you take the Attack action, you can make one additional melee attack from the echo's position.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
- Dread AmbusherAt 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.

At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.
- Echo AvatarYou can temporarily transfer your consciousness to your echo. As an action, you can see through your echo's eyes and hear through its ears. During this time, you are deafened and blinded. You can sustain this effect for up to 10 minutes, and you can end it at any time (requires no action). While your echo is being used in this way, it can be up to 1,000 feet away from you without being destroyed.

Background Feature: Name DroppingYou know and have met any number of powerful people across the land—and some of them might even remember you. You might be able to wrangle minor assistance from a major figure in the campaign, at the DM's discretion. Additionally, the common folk treat you with deference, and your heritage and the stories you tell might be good for a free meal or a place to sleep.

Feats: SentinelYou have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy's guard, gaining the following benefits:
- When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
- Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
- When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature., Resilient (Wis)Choose one ability score. You gain the following benefits:
- Increase the chosen ability score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You gain proficiency in saving throws using the chosen ability.











 

---

Troben's eyes widen when he hears about Naz's powers and nods saying, "Blood knight, eh? We don't have those, but it sound pretty awesome. I'm an Echo Knight; I can pull a version of myself from either the past or the future to help out. Don't worry, I kick butt in any timeline.  This place sounds like it sucks. Let's just push and get to the demon lord and add it to the grow list of dead demon lords. I'll talk to the gnome and we'll get a pair of runestones made and see what we can do together. Equal split of the loot too for the survivors."

He eyes the strangers. Some part of him thinks it could be some kind of trick and these two are looking to jump someone and take their stuff. It's actually not a bad plan...he can respect it. But still, that's not cool. Hopefully it doesn't need to be said that betraying the group isn't a good idea.

 

Tabletop

So convert the four essences from the OOC thread. Troben and Rik need to have their corruption removed. I'd like to wait a day before they head to the new realm.

 

 

[herastor]

 

Eithne Black Lv. 8 Hexblood Druid (Circle of Stars)

---

AC: 21 | HP: 76/91 | Initiative: +3 | Passive Perception: 21Darkvision 60 ft | Movement: 30 ftFlight 60 ft: 9/10 minutes remaining
StatsSTR 13 (+1)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 16 (+3)
WIS 23 (+6)
CHA 14 (+2) | SavesSTR +2
DEX +4
CON +4
INT +7
WIS +10
CHA +3
Resolve Die 1d20+2
Resolve Check 1d20+12
Corruption Save 1d20+14 | SkillsStealth +6
Sleight of Hand +6 (Untrained)
Nature +9
Animal Handling +9
Insight +9
Medicine +9
Perception +11
Survival +9
Deception +5
Persuasion +5 | Spell Slots1st: 6/6
2nd: 2/3
3rd: 2/3
4th: 2/2
Spell Gem: Snare
Spell Scroll: Detect Poison and Disease
Token: Feather Fall
Hex: 1/LR
Disguise Self: 1/LR
Staff Charges: 10/10 | Hit Dice: 7/7 | Wild Shape: 1/2
Guiding Bolt: 0/3 | Weal/Woe: 3/3

---

"Hmmm. So much of my magic will find no significant purchase in this barren environment. I don't believe I'll be a hinderance in this task. I'll just have to proceed with care, as always."

 

Or with more than just care.

 

Eithne mused over possibilities. She'd have to change her usual battle strategies quite a bit. For right now she was stuck with what she had at her disposal.

 

"Thank you for the explanation Turlon-Raal, I think I would like to meet one of these channelers at some point. That's a topic for another time though."

 

"If the demon lord is siphoning energy to a device, then that seems our most logical target. It's probably what facilitates the demon's ability to jump from realm to realm. Destroying it could force them back onto their realm and into an ambush."

 

Mechanics

 

 

 

[Papa Bear]

"She is wise " Nazara says after hearing Eithne's idea.

"Agree." Turlon-Real replied. "We assumed we would have to kill the Demon Lord first, but if we can control when we face it, we can arrange an ambush like you said." he said, indicating Eithne. "Of course, we will need to find this device first."

[Shadeus]

 

Troben the Ragler

AC: 21 | Hit Points: 96/105 | Passive Perception: 16 | Init: +4 (adv)

Second Wind: 1/1 | Action Surge: 0/1 | Unleash Incarnation: 4/4 | Heroic Strike: 1/1 | Skills+9 Athletics
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Sleight of Hand
+1 Stealth
-1 Arcana
-1 History
-1 Investigation
-1 Nature
-1 Religion
+3 A. Handling
+6 Insight
+3 Medicine
+6 Perception
+3 Survival
+0 Deception
+3 Intimidation
+3 Performance
+0 Persuasion | SavesStrength: +12
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: +7
Intelligence: -1
Wisdom: +6
Charisma: +0 | FeaturesLanguages: Common Abyssal, Giant, Elven

Class Features:
- Fighting Style: Great Weapon FightingWhen you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
- Second WindYou have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
- Action SurgeStarting at 2nd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn.
- Manifest EchoYou can use a bonus action to magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, until you manifest another echo, or until you're incapacitated.

Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.

You can use the echo in the following ways:

- As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your echo at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.
- When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the echo's space. You make this choice for each attack.
- When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.
- Unleash IncarnationYou can heighten your echo's fury. Whenever you take the Attack action, you can make one additional melee attack from the echo's position.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
- Dread AmbusherAt 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.

At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.
- Echo AvatarYou can temporarily transfer your consciousness to your echo. As an action, you can see through your echo's eyes and hear through its ears. During this time, you are deafened and blinded. You can sustain this effect for up to 10 minutes, and you can end it at any time (requires no action). While your echo is being used in this way, it can be up to 1,000 feet away from you without being destroyed.

Background Feature: Name DroppingYou know and have met any number of powerful people across the land—and some of them might even remember you. You might be able to wrangle minor assistance from a major figure in the campaign, at the DM's discretion. Additionally, the common folk treat you with deference, and your heritage and the stories you tell might be good for a free meal or a place to sleep.

Feats: SentinelYou have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy's guard, gaining the following benefits:
- When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
- Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
- When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature., Resilient (Wis)Choose one ability score. You gain the following benefits:
- Increase the chosen ability score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You gain proficiency in saving throws using the chosen ability.











 

---

Troben nods respectfully to Eithne and adds, "Or, even better use that energy to power our weapons. The effect is the same; the demon lord comes to us because it's got no mystical energy. So the trick will be finding the power source. Well, we just are hopping back from the Shadow realm and Grenval will need time to create the runestones. We need to rest up and then maybe leave tomorrow?"

 

Tabletop

Troben is proposing giving 4 if their energies to the gnome to craft two runestones. While that's happening, we can do a long rest and maybe get the corruption off Rik and Troben. The latter is more a nice to have as long as this new realm isn't handing out corruption as frequently as the Shadow Realm.

 

 

[herastor]

 

Eithne Black Lv. 8 Hexblood Druid (Circle of Stars)

---

AC: 21 | HP: 76/91 | Initiative: +3 | Passive Perception: 21Darkvision 60 ft | Movement: 30 ftFlight 60 ft: 9/10 minutes remaining
StatsSTR 13 (+1)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 16 (+3)
WIS 23 (+6)
CHA 14 (+2) | SavesSTR +2
DEX +4
CON +4
INT +7
WIS +10
CHA +3
Resolve Die 1d20+2
Resolve Check 1d20+12
Corruption Save 1d20+14 | SkillsStealth +6
Sleight of Hand +6 (Untrained)
Nature +9
Animal Handling +9
Insight +9
Medicine +9
Perception +11
Survival +9
Deception +5
Persuasion +5 | Spell Slots1st: 6/6
2nd: 2/3
3rd: 2/3
4th: 2/2
Spell Gem: Snare
Spell Scroll: Detect Poison and Disease
Token: Feather Fall
Hex: 1/LR
Disguise Self: 1/LR
Staff Charges: 10/10 | Hit Dice: 7/7 | Wild Shape: 1/2
Guiding Bolt: 0/3 | Weal/Woe: 3/3

---

"I'll take the compliment," her expression softening for the proud ruby warrior, "We're all guided by our personal needs in this place. I think this device can guide us to the greatest reward as well. Gaining control of this device or even discovering its processes does nothing but advance all our causes."

 

"And that is something best left to start off fresh from," she stated, agreeing with Troben, "Tomorrow we're going to split the shins of something that deserves it."

 

Mechanics

 

 

 

[Papa Bear]

Baldric invites the two arrivals back to the guild hall and gives them each a room for the night and assigns 'the girl' (as Billum named her but you've since learned her name to be Arla) to prepare a meal, for the group was weary from the battle in the Shadow Realm and surely faced something every bit as dangerous and unknown to them tomorrow. Baldric tips her a couple gold coins (for she takes care of the Guild Hall for Tips and a room as her pay) and says, "I trust this shall be enough for our guests as well." indicating the necromancer and the blood knight. "And if possible, we'd like a hearty breakfast for we leave for yet another Demon Realm, possibly more dangerous to us all than any other Demon Lord."

Arla freezes at his words until Tiberion clears his throat and she quickly turns and scampers away toward the kitchen. She brings out a kettle with a beefy stew chock full of vegetables of many kinds and a strong flavor of barley. She tells you that she's finishing up some freshly baked bread, which will be available in a couple minutes and churned butter that she made earlier this day before her shift working at Billum's inn.

The bread was worth the wait and had a wonderful flavor dipped in the stew.

The next morning you find two others there with Arla helping serve up breakfast. Apparently after the lot of you went to bed, the girl went to the inn seeking a little help and some of Billum's supplies. The leftovers of the bread has been toasted with butter and blackberry jam. Fresh cut bacon and ham is sizzling in the pan and brought to you fresh and hot. A pile of country potatoes, well seasons with grilled onions sits heaping in two different bowls at the two ends of the table. Another bowl is half filled with scrambled eggs (eggs are currently in short supply) and about half a dozen eggs over medium. There is also sausage gravy and fresh baked biscuits as well as several stacks of Griddle Cakes and molasses.

When you've each had your fill, you had back to Grenvall's shop where he has two runestones waiting for you.

Turlon-Vaal produces a runestone, "This will take us back to North Point and you'll be able to use the portal there to return here. Our portal back to the Plague Lord's realm. I suppose we didn't tell you of this Demon Lord himself aside from his device that sucks up magic. The Plague Lord is foul. If you feel yourself getting queasy, puke if you must, but prepare yourself for the enemy for they will be approaching fast."

"The land's pretty rancid too, so it might not actually be the Plague Lord's minions. But you get used to it... sort of." The Blood Knight warns.

Turlon-Vaal shakes his head and grins at Nazara. He activates the stone and Nazara steps through. "Its not a trap. You'll have to step through before me as I hold the stone and it will close behind me. Of course, you already know this."

When you step through, you arrive in a similar shop as Grenval's, but this one is much larger and there seems to be three proprietors, two elves and a human. "Kender, Fain, and Lorthos arrived back last night from Esterly." The human says. "They'll be along shortly." and the human was not wrong for almost as soon as he finishes the words, the door to the shop opens. Outside is a bustling city, much more populated than Ravencrest. In steps three other adventurers, the rest of Nazara and Turlon-Vaal's team.

Kender: A Ranger

Fain; an Elven Elementalist

And Lothar; a Warrior

[Shadeus]

 

Troben the Ragler

AC: 21 | Hit Points: 105/105 | Passive Perception: 16 | Init: +4 (adv)

Second Wind: 1/1 | Action Surge: 1/1 | Unleash Incarnation: 4/4 | Heroic Strike: 1/1 | Skills+9 Athletics
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Sleight of Hand
+1 Stealth
-1 Arcana
-1 History
-1 Investigation
-1 Nature
-1 Religion
+3 A. Handling
+6 Insight
+3 Medicine
+6 Perception
+3 Survival
+0 Deception
+3 Intimidation
+3 Performance
+0 Persuasion | SavesStrength: +12
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: +7
Intelligence: -1
Wisdom: +6
Charisma: +0 | FeaturesLanguages: Common Abyssal, Giant, Elven

Class Features:
- Fighting Style: Great Weapon FightingWhen you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
- Second WindYou have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
- Action SurgeStarting at 2nd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn.
- Manifest EchoYou can use a bonus action to magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, until you manifest another echo, or until you're incapacitated.

Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.

You can use the echo in the following ways:

- As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your echo at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.
- When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the echo's space. You make this choice for each attack.
- When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.
- Unleash IncarnationYou can heighten your echo's fury. Whenever you take the Attack action, you can make one additional melee attack from the echo's position.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
- Dread AmbusherAt 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.

At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.
- Echo AvatarYou can temporarily transfer your consciousness to your echo. As an action, you can see through your echo's eyes and hear through its ears. During this time, you are deafened and blinded. You can sustain this effect for up to 10 minutes, and you can end it at any time (requires no action). While your echo is being used in this way, it can be up to 1,000 feet away from you without being destroyed.

Background Feature: Name DroppingYou know and have met any number of powerful people across the land—and some of them might even remember you. You might be able to wrangle minor assistance from a major figure in the campaign, at the DM's discretion. Additionally, the common folk treat you with deference, and your heritage and the stories you tell might be good for a free meal or a place to sleep.

Feats: SentinelYou have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy's guard, gaining the following benefits:
- When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
- Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
- When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature., Resilient (Wis)Choose one ability score. You gain the following benefits:
- Increase the chosen ability score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You gain proficiency in saving throws using the chosen ability.











 

---

Troben adds a few gold coins to Baldric's and says, "I know gold isn't worth much here, but maybe it will some day. Thank you. Sincerely. I always like to take care of the people to take care of me."

The echo knight makes a mental note to give the hard-working woman some of their mystic essence once they kill their next Demon Lord. In the meantime, he enjoys the hearty breakfast. He isn't shy about appreciating the amount of effort that went into preparing the meal, and he makes sure there are no leftovers.

As they finish, he listens carefully to their description of the Plague Lord's realm, nodding appreciatively. He shakes his head and says, "The last one corrupted me and gave me red eyes. Now this one wants to kill me with plague and disease. Hey, at least Baldric here is immune to that kind of thing. And I've got a gut of steel and balls to match. So no worries about me. Rik, Vrod...I'm not speaking for you here. If you want to stay behind, we'll be back once it's over."

As they head through the portal to the bustling town, Troben's eyes get wide. He says, "Wow, this place is a lot bigger than Ravencrest. I can see why a demon lord walking around here would be bad. Let's kill him and take his stuff!"

He nods to the right and a copy of himself appears from out of time, this version slightly younger. He gives himself a high five and is ready to go.

Tabletop

I wanted to give you a chance to manage the number of NPCs. It's already a very NPC-heavy group and if either Rik or Vrod stay behind, that might lighten the load a bit. Vrod will want to go, but not if he can "take care of" Rik while we are gone. *shrug*

I don't remember the spell to remove corruption. Is it lesser restoration? Can Troben get one of those? It's not a big deal, if not....unless there are more corrupting effects!

Otherwise, ready to hop through the next portal. Troben will summon an echo before he does in case they are attacked right away.

 

 

[Papa Bear]

"You couldn't keep me away!" Vrod says when Troben mentions 'not speaking for' him but Rik seems to have his doubts.

"I am not a warrior. I was just a simple hunter. These demons, I think, are beyond me." Rik says and when the group leaves Ravencrest for North Point, he opts to stay behind.

[herastor]

 

Eithne Black Lv. 8 Hexblood Druid (Circle of Stars)

---

AC: 21 | HP: 91/91 | Initiative: +3 | Passive Perception: 21Darkvision 60 ft | Movement: 30 ftFlight 60 ft: 9/10 minutes remaining
StatsSTR 13 (+1)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 16 (+3)
WIS 23 (+6)
CHA 14 (+2) | SavesSTR +2
DEX +4
CON +4
INT +7
WIS +10
CHA +3
Resolve Die 1d20+2
Resolve Check 1d20+12
Corruption Save 1d20+14 | SkillsStealth +6
Sleight of Hand +6 (Untrained)
Nature +9
Animal Handling +9
Insight +9
Medicine +9
Perception +11
Survival +9
Deception +5
Persuasion +5 | Spell Slots1st: 6/6
2nd: 3/3
3rd: 3/3
4th: 2/2
Spell Gem: Snare
Spell Scroll: Detect Poison and Disease
Token: Feather Fall
Hex: 1/LR
Disguise Self: 1/LR
Staff Charges: 10/10 | Hit Dice: 7/7 | Wild Shape: 2/2
Guiding Bolt: 3/3 | Weal/Woe: 3/3

---

Eithne's eyes flickered behind their lids as her meditation ended. The new spells swam free in the ocean of her mind and she wondered, or hoped, that she'd made the correct preparations. Neither her star chart nor Tine seemed to have an answer for her. The melancholy was not centered on her own preparation though.

 

She'd spent some time acquiring some rations for the lot of them. With last night's filling stew, she needed to work off some of the meal before she took to her beadroll. It'd been a nice distraction, but this morning she'd found the same problem at the bottom of her griddle cakes. She had to tell Rik that he probably needed to sit this one out. It was pessimistic of her to simply exclude someone that had helped them for so long on the basis of his strength alone. It felt wrong to, essentially, tell him he couldn't keep up. Those feelings only deepened as Turlon-Vaal described their new opponent.

 

She couldn't explain her relief as Rik himself laid the whole problem bare. Truly it was cowardly of her to not voice her own concerns beforehand. She just couldn't shake the notion that she'd go too far if she did.

 

"When we reach the Plague Lord's lands, I'll have a better idea of the challenges facing us. For now, I made sure to prepare extra restorative and protective spells, just in case. And one that Troben or Vrod might find exciting..."

 

She leaves the surprise at that though. Soon enough they're in North Point. A place that she thought was going to be more of an outpost than a seemingly established city. Based solely off the looks of the expansive shop they arrived in. Much like Troben, Eithne was impressed. The awe, however, wasn't enough to make her forget her manners. She bowed slightly to the newcomers and indicated her companions.

 

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I hope that we can work together to topple this Plague Lord quickly. I'm Eithne and these others are Troben, Vrod, Baldric, Tiberion, and Austin."

 

Mechanics

 

 

 

[Shadeus]

 

Troben the Ragler

AC: 21 | Hit Points: 105/105 | Passive Perception: 16 | Init: +4 (adv)

Second Wind: 1/1 | Action Surge: 1/1 | Unleash Incarnation: 4/4 | Heroic Strike: 1/1 | Skills+9 Athletics
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Sleight of Hand
+1 Stealth
-1 Arcana
-1 History
-1 Investigation
-1 Nature
-1 Religion
+3 A. Handling
+6 Insight
+3 Medicine
+6 Perception
+3 Survival
+0 Deception
+3 Intimidation
+3 Performance
+0 Persuasion | SavesStrength: +12
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: +7
Intelligence: -1
Wisdom: +6
Charisma: +0 | FeaturesLanguages: Common Abyssal, Giant, Elven

Class Features:
- Fighting Style: Great Weapon FightingWhen you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
- Second WindYou have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
- Action SurgeStarting at 2nd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn.
- Manifest EchoYou can use a bonus action to magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, until you manifest another echo, or until you're incapacitated.

Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.

You can use the echo in the following ways:

- As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your echo at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.
- When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the echo's space. You make this choice for each attack.
- When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.
- Unleash IncarnationYou can heighten your echo's fury. Whenever you take the Attack action, you can make one additional melee attack from the echo's position.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
- Dread AmbusherAt 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.

At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.
- Echo AvatarYou can temporarily transfer your consciousness to your echo. As an action, you can see through your echo's eyes and hear through its ears. During this time, you are deafened and blinded. You can sustain this effect for up to 10 minutes, and you can end it at any time (requires no action). While your echo is being used in this way, it can be up to 1,000 feet away from you without being destroyed.

Background Feature: Name DroppingYou know and have met any number of powerful people across the land—and some of them might even remember you. You might be able to wrangle minor assistance from a major figure in the campaign, at the DM's discretion. Additionally, the common folk treat you with deference, and your heritage and the stories you tell might be good for a free meal or a place to sleep.

Feats: SentinelYou have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy's guard, gaining the following benefits:
- When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
- Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
- When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature., Resilient (Wis)Choose one ability score. You gain the following benefits:
- Increase the chosen ability score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You gain proficiency in saving throws using the chosen ability.











 

---

When introductions are being shot around, Troben instantly brightens and says, "Troben. Troben the Ragler. Big damn hero. I'm sure you've heard of me."

He is eager to shake hands with any of the newcomers, but it just as fine leaving them be if they are standoffish.

Tabletop