Sleeping Giants Game 5

Intro

Jordan's Older Brother

The day is May 23rd, the year 511. It was nearly 2 years ago, but you still remember it like it was yesterday.

You awoke early that morning, much like any other. You said your prayers amidst the tapestries lining your chamber, finishing just as the sun was shining through the stained glass window in your chamber. Today, however, you wouldn’t be training in the yard. Today, you’d be attending the Ceremony of Archbishop Ascension for Maximilian Steingard, your older brother.

Everything went off without a hitch. You stood in the crowded Great Hall that day, the famed tapestries of Thalos lining the walls. Your position was toward the front of the crowd, right behind your father, Cardinal Jostan, and Maximilian’s mentor, Archbishop Alice. Your brother knelt upon the dais not 20 feet in front of you, with High Priest Marcus leaning on his cane in front of him, a hand on Max’s head. Though his frame is weak, his voice carries through the entire hushed hall.

“In witness of all present, and the ever-present Lord Thalos himself, I hereby recognize Maximilian Steingard for excellence in discovering, tracking, and abolishing evil from this land. He has made the world safer, and more importantly, carried on Thalos’ legacy through his gallant deeds. Because of his latest efforts in destroying a powerful enemy from the realm of Shadow, I do hereby declare that, though he knelt as a simple Bishop, he rises now as Archbishop Maximilian Steingard.”

The mammoth tapestry directly behind the altar makes a sudden movement in the wind, as though Thalos himself is breathing his blessings into the hall. Max rises, bows to the High Priest, then to the crowd, before making his way through the throngs of people to the other end of the Great Hall. As is customary.

From there, you never were sure what happened to Max. You had your own duties to attend to, and when you questioned your father later he refused to speak of it. Max held the position of Archbishop for only a few weeks before he disappeared from Skyhammer altogether. He caused several scenes within the church, and was prone to getting into arguments with the other Archbishops and, even worse, with his own superiors. The rumors state that the high station was too much too quickly, and he simply couldn’t handle the pressure. He was the youngest person ever to reach the rank of Archbishop, after all.

You don’t know if the rumors were true or false. You have had no contact with Max since his disappearance, and you dared not press your father on the topic after his refusal to speak of it. The only inkling of his existence came about exactly a year later, on May 23rd, when you were delivered something a bit odd. It was a scale, perhaps that of a dragon, that was slightly larger than your hand. On the inside was etched an inscription, in an alphabet and language you never identified.

Recap

Recap notes, by Laura

"DAY 3 ~2:30 AM"

• OPENS with: Jordan having a flashback of his brother becoming an Archbishop through their religion, whose god is Thalos. Brother's name: Maximilian
  • He got into arguments with others and his superiors and disappeared after a few weeks. He didn't see his brother after this, but received a mysterious package later on containing a dragon scale (Jordan's trinket) dull red in color and has engraving on it
• BACK TO THE PRESENT DAY:
• Jordan gives the scale and a gold coin to Nil to read: "Thalos himself in his infinite wisdom and prowess, could not decipher the meaning behind the statement, or who it was intended for..."
• Nil reads it to herself, writes it in common, and gives it to Jordan to read
• Jordan recognizes it as a psalm - Psalm 33, Line 7
• Nil recognized the scale as from a red dragon but it's very old and faded
• Jordan asked where red dragons would be, Nil says "dead". Jordan says they'll talk more later.
• .....
• Ana takes out her needle - points SW in a slightly less downward angle than previously
• Ana walks back past the hallway with the 6 doors to the previous room and checks the door that we passed previously
• Lyla comes with and asks Ford to check the door
• Ford opens the door and finds it empty except for rat droppings and their remains. There is another door - Jordan enters with a torch - nothing in this next room but another door.
• Ana enters with her needle - it isn't pointing towards the next door, but we decide to continue anyway hoping the situation might change
• Ford opens the door. As he opens it he hears a small bell ring. The 10 foot wide hall is strewn with tacks (caltrops) the other side of the room there is a hastily built crenulation (small wall) blocking off the end of an attached hallway from the next room
• Ford immediately tries to tiptoe through the caltrops and makes it to the wall and ducks behind
• Rolled initiative - Ford "wins"
• Ford peeks over the crenulation and sees two small goblins who are starting to alert and reach for shortbows to engage us because of the bell on the door alerting them - these goblins also have black veins
• Readies action to stab them if they come to the wall
• Ana also sneaks up to the wall and looks over - the goblins see her. She attacks them with her short bow.
• Nil hides and stealths from the door with the bell entering the hallway - she kind of sees the wall, but that's it
• Stratton sneaks up behin Nil, looks down hallway, rolls nat 20 on perception sees everything, shoots short bow towards the goblin Ana attacked earlier, rolled 19 to attack, rolled 7 damage and made an impossible shot to kill the goblin. Its buddy sees this, gets scared and runs away
• ...Initiative/attack sequence breaks...
• In Draconic, Nil asks Meepo if he can see well in the dark - he can
• Ford immediately begins to follow the goblin that tries to run - jumps the wall to go for the other door that the goblin just went through
• Lyla casts Mage Hand & Nil helps to clear the hallway of the caltrops so we have easy trip down and back - it takes a while
• Ana and Ford are at the door. Ford looks through the door down the hallway
• Stratton makes it down the hallway successfully and to the goblin - he checks the corpse and finds:
  • Leather armor, shield, scimitar, short bow, and 16 arrows. Stratton just takes the arrows - total = 36 arrows
• Inside the door Ford looks into that the goblin escaped into - Ford sees another room with another crenulation (hastily built wall). He sees the fleed goblin and communicated with other goblins in the room
• Rolls initiative again - Nil rolls highest
• Nil completed clearing the hallway and moves to the 1st crenulation and telepathically asks to Ford what he sees - Ford communicates that there are 4 goblins in the next room (does this silently by holding up 4 fingers)
• Ana enters the next room, ahead of Ford
• The 4 goblins only see Ana and go in for the attack. After she hits the one by yet another door
• I go up behind Ford by the door and cast Heroism on him (1/3 spells now left today)
  • "Nice butt" (taps him on ass and pinches it a lil)
• Jordan enters the room and stands on the other side of the crenulation from the 3 goblins, then hops up onto it - fails to intimidate
• Ford enters the room and starts attacking with his short sword
• Nil enters the room and tries to shoot a firebolt at a goblin, but misses by hitting the wall
• Ana shoots shortbow and hits one of the goblins
• Stratton enters the room, hides behind one of the few shooting dummies and tries to shoot a goblin on a wall next to Jordan, but misses
• Lyla enters and gets right in the mix of things and eldritch blasts one of the goblins
• Jordan takes another swing, but misses
• Ford hits the same goblin, but only for 5 damage
• Ana moves, misses
• Goblins attack. They go for Jordan
• Stratton does a version of MC Hammer's "Can't touch this" with Vicious Mockery on one of the goblins - it works and he takes 2 psychic damage
• Lyla tries to hit another goblin with Eldritch but misses
• Jordan attacks another goblin, but just fails to kill it
• Nil goes up to stab a goblin, but misses
• Ana goes to hit another goblin - which takes 4D
• Ford took damage from a goblin attack
• Goblins all missed Jordan with attacks
• Then! The door opens! (the one the other goblin exited through) - the damaged scout goblin brought 3 more 'rougher'/tougher goblins with him
• Stratton missed with short bow but gives bardic inspiration to Lyla (1/3 left today)
• Lyla uses the inspiration to hex the goblin I insulted and tried to shoot before she kills him!
• Jordan step in front of the door with the 3 rough goblins and prepares with his shield
• Ford attacks a goblin and finishes it off
• Nil jumps off the wall and goes to cover behind another of the dummies to shoot a firebolt for 2 damage plus Jordan's inspiration (+1)
• Meepo! runs into the room (finally) he hops up on the wall and attacks the goblin with his sling out of anger for them stealing his dragon and hits and kills it! Finishing off the same goblin Nil just tried to shoot.
• Ana misses 1st shot, but uses bonus action to use her fire breath potion for 1 use out of 3 casting 4d6 fire damage (16 damage) - killing one of the tough ones instantly
• Goblin attacks Jordan leaving him at 1 hit point!
• Another of the tough goblins leaves through a side door on the other side of the room
• Stratton runs and jumps up on the crenulation to shoot at a tough goblin through the far door they originally entered through, rolled nat 20 and hit him for 10 damage
• Lyla - moves hex, casts eldritch blast for 16 damage finishing the goblin Stratton just shot - leaving one more tough goblin that left
• Jordan missed with a javelin shot
• Ford follows the remaining
• Nil goes out the side door that the remaining tough goblin escaped into. She enters a room, but doesn't see any goblins. There is another door across from this. Barrels are throughout the room
• Ana follows Nil into the side room
• Ford now in the hallway with the goblin sees 2 more doors in this hallway. The goblin disengages and goes for the far door at the end of the hall, but stops just before leaving
• Stratton follows Ford into hallway and shoots an arrow at the goblin - just killing him with an arrow leaving Stratton and Ford in the hallway on the far side from the last room
• Lyla enters the room with Nil and Ana to the side of fighting room that the one surviving goblin ran away into. Lyla opens far door with Mage Hand. It reveals a large room with air filled with haze, lit torches, 6 pillars with intertwining dragons depicted on them. She sees far door on left of the room slam shut.
• It's inferred that the remaining goblin escaped through the door that just slammed on the far left of the room
• Jordan heals himself and begins to enter the large room with the pillars
• Ford in the hallway goes to join the rest of the party in the large room with pillars and attempts to hide behind one of the pillars.
• Nil also moves into this room, get pretty far into it and nothing happens
• Ana moves into the room as well
• Nil hears speaking behind far door but she can't understand it - sounds like 3 frantically speaking
• Stratton and Meepo enter the room as well and hang out in right hand corner