CH. 03 - Princenappers!

[Daos]

Mar 24, 2024 15:42:38 GMT -8 Matt4 said:

Ooc

Are those black veins on the tree only or are there similiar signs somewhere else?

As far as Poppy can see, only on the tree itself.  But it's not clear if they descend with the tree's roots into the ground or stop there.

[Daos]

As April sets up her ritual, Mizzle wonders aloud, "Do you think it's possible to heal the tree somehow?"

[HorizonsDream]

Kalinda shrugs as she doesn't know the answer to that question.

[GravityEmblem]

"Of course it's possible. But we'd need to learn more about this blight," April says, going through the familiar motions of setting up the rite. "We don't know exactly what caused it. Whether that ghostly paladin came from it, or the other way around. I'm sure we could clear it easily with powerful magic, but we'll have to find another way."

[MaltholLoth]

"Something removing a curse or even possession...? I've seen others do that but it's beyond me." Terani say in response, trying to assist April as best he may.

[HorizonsDream]

"You are right, but what about our mission?" Kalinda asks.

[GravityEmblem]

"Just let us try for the rest of the day," April pleads. "Elonna is calling me to do this."

[Daos]

(OOC:  Here's an idea.  Let's try doing a skill challenge.  I'm curious how well they work, if at all, in pbp.

If you aren't familiar with the concept, each of you will make a skill check of your choice.  You need to specify how the check is helping with this ritual to purify the grove.  In other words, you can't just roll Acrobatics to do back-flips, as that won't help any.  I won't bother with initiative, but we will go in 'rounds.'  Once all four of you have made your checks, we'll go again.  The challenge continues until either you have double the successes of the party's numbers (so 8) or have equal failures to the party's numbers (so 4).  I'll set the DC at 12.  Be creative, but reasonable.)

[GravityEmblem]

Once April starts burning the incense, she chants a traditional prayer to Elonna--a song of praise, laced with the bardic magic she recently learned. She sings from her heart, putting aside any worries about failing to perform the ritual "properly" and letting her devotion for Elonna speak for itself.

Performance (to sing the words of the ritual): ddwjxHID1d20+51d20+5

[MaltholLoth]

Terani approaches the tree, joining April's prayer, change away and as he does so, walks about the tree, tapping any and every vein he sees with his holy symbol.

(I was going to try sight of hand +2 to be accurate in the taps but went perception to see them all... tRtYDlnN1d20+31d20+3

[HorizonsDream]

Kalinda joins both April and Terani and finally approaches the tree. Carefully, she reaches out through the growing black vines to touch the tree and closes her eyes. Despite how tired she is, she uses her bit of attunement with nature to feel for the deepest part of the blight, and then tries to cut off the worst of the blight without hurting the tree.

IqUrusaw1d20+2 Survival 1d20+2

[Matt4]

Ooc

This round won't be needed, but I wanted to ask..since puryfing groves is not Poppy area of expertise, could she Help someone else giving them advantage?

[Daos]

(OOC:  Possibly; how would she go about doing that?)

[Matt4]

Ooc: well, using the actions from this turn as an example..possibly joining April's chant, or helping Kalinda cutting off the black vines? Things like that

[Daos]

(OOC:  My main concern is that I worry it could make things too easy.  The DC is already quite low; with 4 PCs, if 2 'help' the other each round, while it would take longer to reach 8 successes, it would pretty much be a foregone conclusion, which sort of renders the whole exercise moot.

Maybe she could make a Persuasion check to sort of talk up the group, cheer them on, and give them the confidence to keep going?)