[Third Player Joins: Slaty]
Slaty knows she's in deep trouble. She knew that what she was going to steal was valuable, but she didn't expect it to be that important. While not being able to keep her thoughts straight and constantly looking back to her pursuers, she collides with a guy in a green hunting-poncho.
[https://i.imgur.com/pBVeZ2k.png]
Another guy next to him dressed in a robe with a red-white gradient color scheme catches both of them from falling. "Finally inside!" the girl in a white wedding-dress with shining golden perms thinks to herself "I need to get rid of them!". Slaty sees a set of chairs next to her and immediatly begins barricading the door with them.
People inside the bar are starting to stand up, they're starting to babble about what's happening real loudly. Some are looking around with a look of panic on their faces. The children in the room are wondering what's happening, seeing the adults scared and confused faces.
Elori immediatly understands the situation and starts to help Slatty, throwing the next table he can get towards the entrance, blocking it. Before continuing to catch whatver furniture he can get.
John the barkeeper is shouting from behind the counter "AY!! WHAT'S GOING ON?!!"
Odeon is asking himself the same thing, he turns to the girl in the white dress"Yeah! Hey you! What the fuck is going on?!"
Slaty peeks out of one of the several window pointing towards the parking lot thinking to herself "Better not tell the whole story... just... what they need to know..." her voice trembles, she's nervous "Um... so I sorta mighta taken something from these guys, and they didn't take kindly to it. I don't want to know what their intentions are, and don't plan on finding out." turning around looking around the bar she sees the various locals, all looking scared and the families with children. One of them resembles her sister... Those red curly hairs... She begins to doubt herself "Damn... What did I do coming here... I'm endangering all of these innocent people." she moves towards Elori who's still adding furniture to the pile in front of the door, at this point it's massive, several chairs and tables stacked ontop of the entrance. Slaty tells Elori and Odeon "I'm not going to say no to help, but you're making yourselves accessories to my crime here. My problems are already becoming yours" before she quickly peeks out of the window again.
Odeon is getting angry, why is a delicate girl like this putting herself into danger messing with these weird people in red "You're an idiot, these arent just your average guys, pretty sure this is the cult that had me captive some hours ago." he makes a throatcut movement at her "They are going to kill you, with a bit of luck theyll recognise me and I'm dead as well, I've got no choice, Im helping you for the moment." Odeon take cover behind the window that Slaty was looking through, he grabs his glock and shoots outside shouting "BACK OFF!" before handing Slaty over one of his colts.
He turns towards Elori telling him "This is your chance to prove your trustworthyness! Help me out here and I'll tell you my plan! Or just back away and blend in with the crowd!"
[System Information: Battle commences]
[Everyone Rolls Initiative (D20)]
Initiative Order
Seven Miles Bloods: 14
Elori: 13
Slatty: 11
Odeon: 3
Just as Elori is finishes barricading the entrance the guys dressed in red arrive. There's four of them in total. One in the front with a wavey black haircut, casually resting a metallic baseballbat on his shoulders (Nr. 1), two of them right behind him, both of them wearing a 2mm haircut, one is wearing a red shirt though (Nr. 2), the other one a hoodie (Nr. 3) and is crouching down shouting "Yo Momma look like she be reciting 645AR lyrics in the shower!". The last one way in the back (Nr. 4) has a red scarf around his neck, also wearing a red hoodie of the same color. He's got blonde hair and is pointing an HK416, an automatic rifle, at the entrance.
[https://i.imgur.com/UCAxbJ4.png]
The guy in the front takes out the Metallic Baseball Bat and starts pounding on the door, unfazed by the warning shot.
Hit Roll: 13 (1d20) Hits the Door
Dmg: 3(1d8)
On the inside one can see the wooden door bend a little bit. It looks like it's sturdy enough to take some more hits.
The guy with the baseballbat (Nr. 1) keeps on pouding until he's exhausted and yells "Get out here you fucking rascal! I swear nothing will happen, we just want our stuff back... we could never hurt that beautiful face of yours!" apparently he seems to know the barkeeper, so he yells his name "John! You know you can't keep her in there forever! Just throw her out now and you we'll forget that this happened!"One can hear the other red wearing figures behind him chanting "Bow Bow Bow!" repeatedly.John shouts towards Odeon, Elori and Slaty standing next to the barricaded door now "Oh man, what's going on now, they just made a ruckus two weeks ago, when they wanted protection money." he scoffs "Protection ha! They're just out for themselves, only coming to town when it suits them and then only to loot us."
Slaty seems to be frozen, she starts mumbling to herself "Everyone in this place are their enemies now because they didn’t give me up. I’m not going to be the reason they die." she starts heading towards the window Odeon just shot through, trying to climb it "I’m the only bargaining chip we have. I’m gonna give myself up." Slaty thinking that maybe if she runs over to them now, she might be able to stay alive, even if it means failing her mission.
Odeon grabs her mid-speech and tries to prevent her from leaving.
[Contested Rolls]
[If two characters enter a contest with one another, it get's decided by whoever rolls the higher result]
Odeon Strength: 19
vs
Slaty Strength: 13
Odeon Wins.
He gets a hold of her and pulls the festively dressed girl down "HOLY shit are you an idiot????? Why the fuck do you think I gave you the colt?????" he holds her tight with his left arm and throws Elori the second colt he got stowed away on his belt before lecturing Slaty again "Listen WE have the advantage!They are wide open! Everyone take cover by the windows and fire two shots at those Bloods or whatever they call themselves! Elori shoot the guy crouching on the ground (Nr. 2), you girl, take the one in the back with the rifle (Nr. 4) and Ill get rid of that loudmouth with the baseball bat in front of the door (Nr.1). Understood?!" he wont let go of the girl until he made sure she wont do anything stupid.
Elori catches the Colt while shaking his head in exasperation at the unknown girl and Odeon struggling with one another. He looks at the gun in digust thinking "Not my style.".
Although it's harder to aim holding the girl Odeon still tries to lean his right arm out of the window, shooting his glock twice, aiming for the guy at the entrance (Nr.1).
[System Information]
[Disadvantage on Rolls]
[Odeon Rolls an attack but with disadvantage because of holding the girl]
[Disadvantage: Roll two 20-sided dice (D20) and take the lower result]
[Odeon Hit Rolls (d20) vs Bandit Nr. 1 with disadvantage: 14,13]
[Result: 13 (Lower Result) +4 (Glock Hit Modifier) = 17 Hits!]
[Damage Rolls (2d4): 7 = 1 + 6]
The Redhooded guy who was just smashing on the door gets hit by two bullets, one grazes his shoulder and the other one hits his leg.He falls to the ground prone screaming "Ugh! Light them up! Billy supa hot faya now!", a puddle of blood is starting to build beneath him quickly. Slaty sees the first guy chasing her being taken down "Maybe I really don't have to hand myself in to survive..."
The bandits dressed in red hear the call of their bleeding companion, they start retaliating. The blonde guy in the back (Nr. 4) in the back starts firing his HK416, he knows the green-poncho guy who just shot is somewhere behind that window.
[System Information: Armor Class]
[Armor Class (AC)]
[The Hit Roll (d20+ Modifiers) has to be higher than the Armor Class (AC) for an attack to succeed]
[Armor Class Modifiers]
[Taking Cover grants addition Armor Class]
[Half Cover grants +2 AC, 3/4 Cover grants +5 AC]
[Current Combat Example]
[Odeon has an Armor Class of 13 (AC)]
[The walls around the window almost grand him full cover, he receives +5 to his AC (Armor Class)]
[Odeons Armor Class with the current Cover is 13+5 = 18]
[Nr. 4 has to roll 18 or higher to hit]
[Bandit Nr. 4 Hit Roll vs Odeon: 11 (d20) Fails (Odeon AC: 18)]
The blonde bandit unloads his rifle but misses most of his shots although some of them rip through the wall and fly past Odeon, fortunately hitting none of the guests.As the shots go past them they start to fear for their lives. The children start crying.
Slaty is shook "This... this isn't what I wanted!"
The barkeeper yells "Everybody, get back here! Flee into the kitchen!" He points to the door and people start running towards it.One of the bandits closer to the door (Nr. 3) takes out his Colt and also fires three shots towards the window.
[Bandit Nr. 3 Hit Roll (d20) vs Odeon: 3 Misses (Odeon AC 18)]
His hands are shaking. His dear friend was just struck down, not being able to concentrate, the bullets hit the rain gutter above the window. He tries to focus himself, the shooting stops for a moment.Odeon takes another peak out of the window as the shots settle down. He sees how the one who didn't take out any firearm (Nr. 2) stays behind and it looks like he's preparing something: He pulls out a brown glass bottle and sticks a cloth into it. Odeon gets a bad feeling, he has a hunch what this guy is constructing. He ducks back down again as Nr. 3 fires and misses his shots again.
Elori also ducks down to take cover behind the barricade and slides the colt back to Odeon thinking "He pulled that trigger without any hesitation..." afterwards he tells him “You’re a good shot, it’s almost as if you’ve done this before,” there's an intentional hint of suspicion in his voice. He continues “That’s one down, the rest are pretty far out, should we try and make our way out elsewhere, or do you have another idea?”.
The colt stops sliding right at Odeons feet, the receiver asks himself "Why would he return it? Maybe he got his own guns" so he nods at Elori while the bullets continue to fly past them, there's several holes in the wall at this point "Honestly I think we could take them, but its too much risk for nothing. It will take them a while to break through, especially with that one guy down. " he releases the girl and is in thoughts for a moment "Although I could use a spell to try burning them down... but I really don't want to reveal my powers... things might get complicated... "
Odeon begins talking again "Aight, that barkeeper yelled something about the kitchen. Meet me at the back, there has to be another way out." he dashes towards John who's guiding the people "Quick is there another way out?"
There's a lot of nervousness to be heard in the bulky barkeepers voice, he starts talking really fast, gasping:"Ugh... well. There's a backdoor if you go into the kitchen, turn around the corner and go down the hall. Also we have a upper floor (stair to the north) with some windowed rooms and a stair leading outside northways, tho that'd be right in their line of sight." he slams his fists on the counter "Those damn thugs, they never went this serious on us, we always payed... They do whatever they want... Please help us, these people... they don't have much. We live by the scraps... this is our sanctuary... I.."Odeon gives him a compasionate nod on the outside, but inside he thinks "Sorry. This isn't my fight old man, I just want to get out of here alive."He quickly moves back to Eloris position as the guys in red reload, Slaty is still ducking down next to him. He tells Elori "Elori I plan on leaving. We cant endanger ourselves unneeded if we plan on getting to Manhattan. I just had 13 bullets fly past me, they couldve hit." he clears his throat "Any ideas how we can buy some time to flee?"
Elori at first thinks to himself "I can understand that you want to save your ass... but the what about the people?" but he realizes it's probably better to take some action right now, with his powers, he surely can save at least some of them, so he responds with determination in his voice "I might be able to scare them off if I could be allowed a minute of concentration, trust me and cover me while I try this spell out?"He reaches into a small bag hidden inside his robe and also pulls out a dusty old tome, He flips a couple of pages, holding the book with his left hand and lifts up his right hand in front of him. After turning away from Odeon, he crouch-walks towards the windows the Bloods are firing through. He begins chanting in whispers, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Odeon is stunned for a moment, he didn't mishear "Wait a minute. So there was something special about him. Either he really got powers or he's just loco in the coco." he thinks to himself before responding "You better know what you're doing, and do it quick." he takes cover behind the bar and aims his glock at the barricade "What a madman... that other dude outside probably got a molotov..."
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Meanwhile Slaty crawls over to the entrance to the kitchen and aids John in guiding the villagers out of the bar, she asks him "Is there anything you can do to help us?"
John tells Slaty "Mhh an old man like me... I look like I'm in shape but I'm not able to fight a young mans battle... but.." He ducks down behind the counter, searches through something and than hands you a small glass flask, like handsized: "Here, take it, this is magic grape juice, apparently it has healing properties, or at least that's what the person said who left it here". He hands it over to the girl who, looks at it for a moment, then asks "You got anything flammable here?" the bartender nods and points to some barrels behind the counter "84% alcohol, but please don't burn down the bar" after he quickly starts heading to the other guests inside the kitchen, heading for the back exit. Slaty is thinking to herself that maybe with lighting the whole bar on fire after the villagers left... she could get rid of any tracks leading to her.
Elori already moved over to the window on all fours and is now suddendly standing up, tome and hand still out. He looks through the window, towards the dead-center of the Bandits dressed in red and focuses his energy there. Small, insignificant blue orbs flicker in and out of existence around him.
[Elori casts Thaumaturgy]
[Thaumaturgy Spell Description]
Thaumaturgy Cantrip Transmutation Casting Time: Instant (1 Action) Range: 30 feet Duration: Up to 1 Minute Components: V (Verbal) Description: You manifest a minor wonder, a sign of supernatural power, within range. You create one of the following magical effects within range:
- Your voice booms up to three times as loud as normal for 1 minute.
- You cause flames to flicker, brighten, dim, or change color for 1 minute.
- You cause harmless tremors in the ground for 1 minute.
- You create an instantaneous sound that originates from a point of your choice within range, such as a rumble of thunder, the cry of a raven, or ominous whispers.
- You instantaneously cause an unlocked door or window to fly open or slam shut.
- You alter the appearance of your eyes for 1 minute.
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its 1-minute effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
[Elori tries to scare the enemies with the Thaumaturgy spell]
Eyes glazed over with concentration, suddenly in the center of the Bloods, they hear a disembodied terrifyingly loud, piercing demonic scream: "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
[System Information: Saving Throws]
[Saving Throws are often made when there's a hazardous environmental effect (like an avalanche f.e.) or players get affected by a spell]
[As the scream shreeks out loudly the Seven Miles Bloods have to do a Wisdom Saving throw (d20) above 10 or otherwise they'll be scared.]
Seven Miles Bloods Wisdom Saving Throws (d20):
Nr. 1 Rolls: 2 Fails
Nr. 2 Rolls: 4 Fails
Nr. 3 Rolls: 14 Succeeds
Nr. 4 Rolls: 18 Succeeds
The heavily wounded guy lying on the floor (Nr. 1) released his baseballbat as he hears the scream and he really doesn't know what's going on anymore now, the adrenalin and all the blood loss is getting to his head. He starts crying like a baby "Ohh noo, by the mercy of the Lord, these demons will eat me! Everyone Demons! creatures of the Night are coming!" He's unable to act.The one with the 2mm haircut wearing a shirt (Nr. 3) and the blonde guy with the rifle (Nr. 4) didn't even seem to be bothered by the magic that was cast. The noise their firearms made whilest firing were so loud hat they covered up the scream and since they were too busy reloading anyway afterwards they've missed it altogether.
The one who was preparing a bottle with some liquid inside (Nr. 2), took out a lighter, right the moment the scream appeared. He's shook and tumbles on his back, the bottle falls out of his hand and on the ground, breaking, the liquid is spilling all over, sinking into the ground. He wets his pants and whimpers "Guys! It's the creatures of the Night! Ohhh oooohh! Like in that movie we saw!". He's unable to do anything.
Slaty looks at the scenario in awe, she didn't think that she would run into someone else with powers, they might just be able to make it out alive.
Odeon is impressed too thinking to himself "So it's true. Interesting.".
The two bandits who are unimpressed by the attack on their psyche (Nr. 3 and Nr. 4), see Elori standing in the window the tiny glowing orbs around him fizzling away, they begin firing again.
[Blonde Bandit (Nr. 4) shoots his HK416 again, 10 shots (10d6) on Elori]
[Elori has 3/4 Cover - Elori AC 14 + 5 = 19]
[Hit Roll Bandit Nr.4 vs Elori: 16 Misses (Elori AC 19)]
[Hit Roll Bandit Nr.3 vs Elori: 3 Misses (Elori AC 19)]
Both of them (Nr. 3 and 4) keep on firing, slowly mowing down the wall protecting the locals and the group trying to protect the Subway, it looks as if soon the cover will soon vanish in a rain of bullets. Parts of the wooden wall are already breaking up and bursting apart.
Elori winces at first as the bullets collide with the wall, he peeks back out, smiling at the sight of the Seven Miles Blood that he did affect, as he drops his tome into his robe and picks up his bag heading towards the Odeon. He tells him "Bought us some time I guess, surprised the other two saw through it."
Odeon thinks it's time to make a run for it "Alright dont know bout yall but Im done here!" he moves towards the kitchen and it's back exit.
Slaty is panicking thinking to herself "Damn... I wanted to get rid of all the evidence... if we leave these bandits alive... they're surely going to tell the rest of their clique and chase after me for 'that item'... but I can't tell this guy in a green-poncho and that magic guy in robes what I stole... it's too risky..."
Slaty pulls on Odeons poncho yelling "Why not finish them now?" she points to some barrels behind the counter "Look, I asked the bartender, they're highly flammable, we could roll them over to the entr...".
Odeon is asking himself why this girl is so eager to see those people dressed in red die, he's not going to risk it all now for a petty fight, so he cuts her off and explains"That would greatly endanger us though, with what result?! We could literally just run out and take the villagers with us nobody would get hurt. One of them is bleeding on the ground, one lies on the hround, the door is still locked. We can leave right now and everyone will be save."
Elori stops his walk towards the exit and slings his bag across his back, “You’re right, but do you really wanna be responsible for so many villagers? And besides, who’s to say that these guys won’t storm the inn long after we’re gone and wreck it? That wouldn’t be very just. You heard the innkeeper, they’ve been extorting this place for awhile regardless, I think it’s about time these guys were put down, besides...” he pauses for a moment and then give a wry, teasing smile. “If you can’t take down three of these guys, how do you think you’re going to go off saving this world of it’s plight?”
Odeon hears the truth in Eloris words, but this is not some bullshit fantasy, he's a realist. If he really wants to get to Manhattan he can't just keep running into fights. He needs to think of the bigger picture, what good is it dying fighting three bandits of some shady cultlike bandits out in the nowhere. Fuck he didn't think they'd be such an issue, who knows how many of them are around the area. "Elori, I'm sorry. Sometimes you have to choose your battles." he then shouts towards the people who are fleeing through the kitchen "Everybody get out through the back and flee, the thugs havent seen faces yet, they can't retaliate."
Elori is confused for a moment, but then remembers the teachings of his godess Atiya "No Morals are correct. All Morals stand true." he then nods, satisfied with the answers Odeon gave him "Alright, let's leave."
Odeon nods back and grabs the leather bag the girl is holding "This. Either you throw it away or I'll do it. It's the only reason they're looking for you, if we hand it over you might be able to flee yourself."
The girl looks at the bag, her eyes seem to be filled with terror "B.. B.. But you don't understand! What's inside this bag... it's.." Odeon has had enough of it, some people need to be forced to cherish their life, he's got no time for this drama. He forcefully takes the bag, there's something thin with a round shape inside, feels pretty light, but he doesn't bother and throws it out the window with all his might. The leather bag lands in the parking lot. The girls eyes are wide open, she's in disbelief about what just happened, her hands reach out to the window the bag just went through. Odeon grabs her and throws her over his left shoulder, she doesn't resist, she's still staring at the bag outside, lying next to the recovering bandits. Moving outside he tells her "Your life's worth more than whatever was in that bag, you idiot."
After exiting they see the people that were inside, most of them are running into the woods, dispersing.The girl hands Odeon back the colt mumbling "Uhm.. uhm..." she's struggling for words, her eyes are watery "This is the worst outcome possible. FUCK!" she thinks to herself "That idiot threw THAT away...".
Odeon asks her "Girl, best you get far away, I don't know what business you had going on with those guys, but leave it."
The girl with the golden perms nods and with a blurry vision she says "Yeah. I'm going west... back to my family.."
She thinks to herself that maybe if she makes a run for it now, she'll at least be able to return safely, even if she didn't finish what she came to do and if lucks on her side she'll even be able to avoid the consequences of her failure today altogether. Maybe... running into these two guys was the best that could've happened, they could help her cover her tracks.
She sighs, she should at least show some signs of gratefulness " And... Thank you for saving my life, I wish I could repay you..."
Odeon coldly says "No need." and nods "Good Luck it is then." before turning towards Elori "I'm heading east." he doesn't want to stay around any longer with these bandits still around.This red-wine sipping guy in robes that also got magical powers surely would up his survival chances, aside from that Elori seems to be nice guy in general. "If it's just one person coming along, that's fine, even if he tries to betray me" Odeon reassures himself. He seems to be just a lone traveler with no ulterior motive. Besides he never really got to meet another human with powers, since he's been in the forest the past years. He heard that more exist though and that they started appearing after 'that event' happened 3 and a half years ago. He's wondering if Elori is having the same 'issue' as him and what he knows about the energy within them "So many questions. Better ask him in a safe space and while I'm at it tell him that I've got powers too."
Odeon raises his voice "Elori, are you tagging along?"
Elori ponders for a moment "Us meeting today wasn't a coincidence... right, Atiya?" he thinks to himself before smirking "So I passed your 'test'." he chuckles "Fine, but I'm curious what this grand plan of yours is about." this might be the start of something interesting happening on his pilgrimage.
Odeon nods "Sure. I promised you. But not right here." he points with his left index finger towards the part of the sky that's already darkened because night has begun to fall "We need to head east first, get somewhere safe."
The girl adjust her white dress and bows gently "Goodbye it is then, I'll never forget your kidness." before beginning to sprint off towards the setting sun in the west thinking "QUICK!"
[Third Player Leaves: Slaty]
Elori sees her taking off "You think she'll be fine?"
Odeon begins to walk off eastwards as well in a fast pace "I'm not worrying about her, you better start worrying about us though, we need to get a move on."
Elori still looking over his shoulder towards the girl who's running in the opposite direction "She didn't even tell us her name.
As they move away towards the border of Chelsea they watch their surroundings carefully.
Odeon Perception (Wisdom) Check (d20): 4
Elori Perception (Wisdom) Check (d20): 12
Elori hears a faint whistle, like the sound a dove makes, as they get to the outskirts of the town somehwere in the distance from the direction they just took off from. He believes it to be odd, but doesn't pay in any further attention.
The sun is way past her zenith, it's around 4 pm. Odeon is thinking about the best way to get to the train station John the barkeeper spoke off. It's about a two hours footwalk left to Ann Arbor, where the Amtrak Station is located. They could either travel directly on the main road, saving about half an hour or take a side road a bit more to the south, leading to some fields and travel through there.
Odeon points to the two options in the scenery as they run keep running "We need to get to Ann Arbor, the mainroad is faster, but we could also move at a slower pace around, through those farming fields."
Eloir looking into the distance responds “I feel like we’ll find a lot of trouble on the main road. The side road seems a lot safer to me.”
Odeon looks over at Elori and thinks for a second. "You're right... Survival is priority. Besides Im used to going off road... I like your way of thinking, lets do it."
The two former strangers set out for their common adventure.