Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

---

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs overlooking Vogler, three ghastly, ethereal figures sit on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

---

   As you approach the wharf, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . This . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

---

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs overlooking Vogler, three ghastly, ethereal figures sit on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

---

   As you approach the wharf, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . This . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

---

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs overlooking Vogler, three ghastly, ethereal figures sit on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

---

   As you approach the wharf, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . This . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

---

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs overlooking Vogler, three ghastly, ethereal figures sit on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

---

   As you approach the wharf, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . this . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

---

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs north of town, three ghastly, ethereal figures on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit atop the bluffs overlooking Vogler. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

---

   As you approach the wharf, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . this . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

---

   As you approach, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . this . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs north of town, three ghastly, ethereal figures on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit atop the bluffs overlooking Vogler. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

---

   As you approach, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . this . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs north of town, three ghastly, ethereal figures on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit atop the bluffs overlooking Vogler. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   On the way down the hill, Ser Michelle says to Modri, to break the silence, “Lioness, huh? Heh. I like it . . .”

   “When I was a weeeee little girl, Father and I were exiled from a big city—I don’t remember much about it, but we had a house just outside the city with a farm. The city had big people on the walls—really big people.”

   “Father was a knight in our home in exile, over in Nordmaar. We had a good life there until the Dragon Armies invaded a few years back. I’d say I was about 18 or 19 back then.”

   “Anyway, I’d been training as a squire for several years and both of us were drafted into the army, as were basically everyone else who could pick up a sword and not cut themselves. Father was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant and I was made a sergeant in another platoon. Father said that we should serve with honor and distinction as knights first, no matter whom we served.”

   “But you should have seen it! The Gods were back, Mr. Modri, and Takhisis showed herself to us! We were given weapons that channeled her very power! Well, the Red and the Blue Dragon Armies moved down into to Silvanesti, but that turned into pyrrhic victory—the elves there activated some sort of artifact and turned the whole place into a hellish wasteland.”

   Here, anger flashes across her features.

   “****ing waste. Dad died for nothing there—well, that’s when I received his effects—that handkerchief in an envelope, by the way—and a knighthood—the only daughter of a knight inherits the title and thus I became Dame Michelle Folketh . . . and with my knighthood, they finally deigned to grant me the official commission—lieutenant—that they’d refused to give me no matter how much I’d distinguished myself in battle. My section all earned their promotions, and the new men under me—including a section of those draconian freaks have been pretty damned loyal and competent fighters.”

   “Anyway, re-grouped up in Taman Busuk, in Neraka, before Kansaldi ‘Fire-Eyes’ got it in her head that we needed to go over into the Northern Wastes and then encircle Kalaman.”

   “Ha! I ought to have brought my whole platoon with me to deliver the orders to Vogler. Get arrogant just once and now you’re carrying the enemy’s armor in box like some common grunt. Heh!” She shakes her head “. . . So, what’s your story, Mr. Modri?”

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

 

   As you approach, you can see Vogler going up in flames—and horrific creatures, the draconians—cutting people down as they flee.

   Ser Michelle has the decency to look away in shame. “My men and I—we fought battles against other soldiers and knights—bravely and with honor and pride . . . this . . . this isn’t what I was told would happen. I was told to order you to let us quarter here. This is . . .”

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs north of town, three ghastly, ethereal figures on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit atop the bluffs overlooking Vogler. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Evening★

From Thornwall Keep to the Wharf

Coltan, Modri, Ser Artanis, and Ser Michelle

   Ser Artanis and Modri see two heavy tears fall onto the stone floor before she sighs in relief. Ser Michelle screws up her eyes, wipes her nose and stands proud. “You truly are good men,” she says, “Modri, Ser Artanis . . . and no, I do not need to be carried like some . . . princess!”

   With that, she goes over to the bed and tears the bed sheet into a few strips, quickly and efficiently—a feat of strength that betrays her hard training as a knight. Wrapping them around her side and tying them across her back, the crude bandage will have to suffice.

   “If nothing else, you can at least admit that my sword would have cauterized these wounds!”

   When you go to Ser Becklin’s room, you find the ornately carved wooden crate under the bed with painted decorations—including a beautifully carved and painted crest. There are rope handles on either end, but it is the size of a man in length and just as wide. If you didn’t know better, one could be forgiven for mistaking the box for a coffin of sorts. The crest is that of the Knights of Solamnia and there, in the decoratively carved banner is “Sir Darrett Highwater”.

   But Artanis isn’t ignorant of what this is. Undoing the latches, you open it and find, settled in velvet molded cushioning, a gorgeous, brand new set of plate armor and horned helmet. Nestled in its own molding is a sealed scroll that Artanis would recognize as the scroll of commission: the order that the person named therein should be knighted by the governing lord, signed and sealed, and given to the knight. It is their official certificate of knighthood.

   Atop the scroll is a sealed envelope that reads “To Ser Artanis”. The envelope is thick, and tied with expensive-looking silk rope. A small note tied to the rope says “Save this for what’s inside”.

   “I shall help you carry this with Mr. Modri,” Ser Michelle offers. “This ‘Darrett Highwater’ must be a one heck of a man to earn this.”

   You all close and re-latch the crate, pick it up by its sturdy rope ends and head downstairs.

   There, you meet Mery, who is just entering the foyer of the keep.

   As you exit the keep, Mery finds the cat licking its paw, sitting atop Handsome’s saddle.

   Shooing him off only ends in the cat hopping rather adroitly back up onto Handsom’s hindquarters.

   Eventually you all head down the hill, two horse riders and two carrying a box. You meet Coltan at the base of the hill and start heading towards the wharf together.

Invasion Encounter

Ominous Riders

   Coltan, then Ser Michelle, who alerts the rest of you with a startled, “Look! Atop the bluffs!”.  A distant flash of light catches your attention. Atop the cliffs north of town, three ghastly, ethereal figures on three empyrean, skeletal, motionless horses sit atop the bluffs overlooking Vogler. You make out the glint of light on plate armor.

   Interestingly, two of them appear to be glaring daggers at the third before all three disappears in another flash of ghastly light.

   All of you, however, recognize the unmistakable features of Mayor Raven uth Vogler writ masculine on one of the two that had been standing defiantly against the third: that must be the famous Lord Vogler, who founded this town, and perhaps one of his men.

Statblocks

Skill Challenge Time!

   Please choose any three skills you’d like, and write up how you use them to move get through the crowd and down to the wharf to join your friends—including how you help keep people calm and orderly. I don’t care what skills you choose, just make it sound plausible.

   @PureChance or @Peacemonger, please write for Ser Michelle. I think one of you said you shackled Ser Michelle, so maybe you’ll for her skills to be on the intelligence/wisdom/charisma side of things. Up to you if she’s shackled or not. Do any of you actually have any shackles?

   You’ll need to succeed on a DC 12 check for each of the three skills you choose. You need at least 10 collectives successes out of 15 (3 checks for Coltan, 3 for Mery, 3 for Modri, 3 for Ser Artanis, and 3 for Ser Michelle = 15 total checks) to succeed. Please don’t roll them all at the same time, but in order: see below.

   I’d like part of your theme of getting to the wharf—because you’re coming from behind—to be protection of the crowd from the encroaching invaders. Thus, instead of multiplying your total failures by d8 for slain villagers, we’ll be subtracting your total successes from the wharf-group’s total failures, and hope we reach zero (less than zero doesn’t resurrect anyone, sorry).

• If your check totals 6 or less, not only do you fail, but, this adds a complication (try to come up with what that is in your post), and imposes disadvantage on your next roll. If this is your third roll, that complication carries over to the next person to post!
• If you roll a natural 1, take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from being trampled, fall prone (get separated from the group!), and add a complication, as above!
• If your check totals 7–11, then you merely fail that skill check without complication.

• If you roll a natural 20, then that counts not just as a success, but a facilitation! Take advantage on your next roll!

  • For the purposes of the overall count (see below), a natural 20 also counts as two successes, and subtracts 1d8 from the slain villagers count for that round.

---

• If you succeed (a total of 10–14 total successes between the four of you out of 15, then the crowd is brought back under some modicum of control, and you’ll meet up with the rest of your party in the next round.
• If your skill challenge fails (1–9 total successes out of 15), then you three take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each.
• If you utterly fail (0 total successes out of 15), then you three take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from trampling, each, you completely lose control of the crowd. You will have to extricate yourselves from the area (difficult terrain), and you’ll have to do another skill challenge you can meet up with the others on the south-side of town.
• If you totally succeed (15 total successes out of 15), then that counts as a grand facilitation!

   Be creative and think outside of the box! Within a single round, you will need to use three different skills, but if you use the same skill as another player in the same round, that’s fine. In other words, you can’t use athletics, athletics, and athletics, but if you and another player both use athletics once, each, in the same round, that’s fine. You may use athletics, again, in the next round—but don’t restrict yourselves to the same three skills every single time. New circumstances and new information might inspire you to use different skills from the last time.

   Good luck!

• Lt. Dame Michelle Folketh.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 32/65 (10d8 + 20)
  • Speed 30 ft.
  • STR +3, DEX +2, CON +2, INT +1, WIS +2, CHA +1
  • Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +4
  • Skills Athletics +5, Perception +4
  • Senses passive Perception 14
  • Draconic Devotion. While the officer can see a Dragon that isn’t hostile to it, the officer has advantage on attack rolls.
  • Assault Orders (Recharge 5–6). The officer shouts orders and targets up to two other creatures within 60 feet of itself. If a target has the Draconic Devotion trait and can hear the officer, the target can use its reaction to make one melee attack.
• Warhorse.
  • Armor Class 11
  • Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
  • Speed 60 ft.
  • STR +4, DEX +1, CON +1, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Senses passive Perception 11
  • Trampling Charge. If the horse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the horse can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.
  • Actions
    • Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Cat.
  • Armor Class 12
  • Hit Points 2 (1d4)
  • Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  • STR –4, DEX +2, CON +0, INT –4, WIS +1, CHA –2
  • Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  • Senses passive Perception 13
  • Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
  • Actions
    • Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.

Lieutenant Dame Michelle Folketh, a. k. a. “Lieutenant”, “Lieutenant Folketh”, “Dame Michelle”, or “Ser Michelle”	Cat	Warhorses “Handsome” and “Tiergan”