Liam would like to find the songbook, and (lower priority) the bottle of Goldenroot poison. He'll spend about 30 seconds looking for the book and/or poison, and then give up.

After the 30 seconds of searching, he'll move towards where he thinks Sketch might be.

OOC: Is this the only room that seems to be coming down, or does it seem like this whole level of the building will collapse? Also, which was is "out" to the outside of the building; or do both exits eventually lead out?

This room appears to be the only room collapsing. The main exit was through the left door, but Liam knows the door to the right also leads to the exit (eventually).

Liam scoops up his songbook but is unable to find the bottle of poison. Moving to the right, Liam finds Sketch by the door.

What do you do?

The poison is lost, then.

Liam helps Sketch escape the collapsing room. Rather than recrossing the dangerous territory, he'll push them further into the right-hand path.

"Where's Allessia?" Sketch asks as he follows Liam away from the burning room.
You cross another room before happening upon another bedchamber once having belonged to the monks. The bodies of two merfolk lie on the floor, both violently mangled. One's left arm has been torn off, discarded a few feet away.
Cries can be heard from adjoining rooms as the merfolk battle the monstrous brutes invading the tower.

"She's safe, I saw her magic protect her."

Liam looks to see if the mangled merfolk had any weapons.

"Sketch, I'm thinking full-on stealth mode. This isn't our fight, and if someone notices us there's no need to deal with everyone else. Your thoughts?"

The deceased merfolk do not have anything of value on them.
Sketch nods his approval of Liam's pro-stealth policy.

How does Liam plan on escaping the tower?

• Jump out the nearest window.
• Make his way to the roof.
• Walk out the front door (duh).
• Sneak into the basement.

"I don't want any vertical shenanigans. If we're leaving we're leaving at ground level."

OOC: Front door

Methodically, Liam leads Sketch towards where he remembers the front entrance to be. Sticking to the shadows, the two find it fairly easy to maneuver around this level of the tower. The chaos of the strange, brutish creatures' attack on the merfolk priests only helps their efforts to remain unseen. Their merfolk hosts, on the other hand, are viciously slaughtered almost to the man.
Each room they enter along the winding route towards the front of the tower contains the body of at least one slain merfolk. Blood and viscera run freely along the flagstone floor, pooling along the edges, and pouring down the staircase that leads deeper into the cliff.
More than once you happen upon the monsters as they stalk their victims. You keep hidden until the danger passes, however you do notice that the creatures aren't completely lost to their bloodlust. A couple of times, you spy them capture and carry away some poor soul.

Just as you reach the front exit, you come upon a group of the beasts. Three of them are here, taking those unlucky merfolk who have been captured and carrying them outside. As one leaves, another replaces him.
It appears almost impossible to escape through the front door without them noticing you.

What do you do?

"Ok," he whispers to Sketch. "Most beast-types are at least a little bit scared of fire. Let's find some flaming brands and keep them between us and these guys. Maybe they'll be intimidated long enough to let us run away."

He'll backtrack slightly if necessary. If he can find a good piece of flaming debris, he'll seize it. As he told Sketch, Liam's hope is that these creatures are stupid enough to be mildly scared of fire.

If not, well, entering a fight is better with a flaming stick than without.

Keeping the flaming debris between you and the tusked creatures, Liam breaks cover as he moves towards the doorway. Almost immediately the monsters notice him and Sketch—but true to Liam's assumption, the fire gives them pause.
They snarl and hiss at you as you make your way closer to the exit. A flash of lightning reminds you that it is still storming outside.

One of the lumbering beasts isn't as dissuaded as its compatriots, however. It doesn't charge you, instead situating itself directly in front of the doorway and blocking your escape. The two others move around and take up flanking positions behind you, encircling you and Sketch.

Do you:

1. Attempt to talk to them
   
2. Defuse the situation by performing a hilarious pantomime
   
3. Attack
   
4. Offer them Sketch for your freedom
   
5. Wait

Liam draws back his mouth in imitation of a snarl. He widens his arms and bends his knees, making himself appear as wide and as stable as possible. He looks the blocking creature right in the eyes, silently daring him to make the first move.

The beast blocking your escape moves ever closer to you, as if expecting you to wave your burning implement at it. The creature is large and stooped, at first appearing more akin to an ogre or lesser giant. Though squaring up to this one, you now see it is much more reptilian. It has long, heavily muscled arms that would drag on the ground if it were to drop its defensive stance. Its splayed hands and feet are webbed, and long tusks protrude from its large mouth.
It lashes out at you—but you expected as much. Anticipating the forthcoming blow, you dodge the attack. However, with its superior reach, it knocks the burning debris out of your hand. In an instant, the others are on you!
Outnumbered and outmuscled, the monsters overpower you easily.

When you come to, you find yourself in a cold, dank, dimly lit rough-hewn chamber. Phosphorescent lichen hangs from the ceiling, casting a sinister shadow over everything. Moisture runs down the limestone walls, collecting in fetid shallow pools. The stink of decay permeates the area.
Rubbing the chill and numbness from your extremities, you notice the bodies piled up along the walls in various states of decomposition. From what you can tell, nearly everyone appears to be merfolk.
A single passage appears to lead up and out of this chamber, promising a deeper cavern complex. As you near the opening, you can feel a temperature change as waves of humidity waft through the opening. Further, you can hear movement and hissing coming from somewhere nearby.

Liam's first move is to gather what resources he can, and to look for companions.

Even though he probably doesn't have his normal tools, he'll still do what he can to prepare himself - including scraping a patch of phosphorescent lichen into his hand to use as a portable light source.

He looks around to see if anyone else is with him. If there's nothing to see in the immediate chamber, he moves through the humid tunnel to see what other rooms await.

The circular, naturally hewn chamber is roughly twenty feet in diameter. Its walls are smooth and slick with moisture, providing nutrients to the numerous patches of lichen that cling to the porous limestone. The floor is slightly convex, collecting a shallow pool of freshly filtered water; however, proximity to the piles of dead bodies ensures the pool is unfit to drink from.
Taking stock of the situation, you find that you have your gear, but not your companions. Searching the area, you discern that they are not in the piles—which is a good thing, you tell yourself.

You exit the cadaver room, a fistful of glowing fugus to light your way. The chamber beyond is much larger, its walls built in cyclopean-style limestone masonry. The floor is paved in similarly tight-fitting, albeit smaller, flagstones that pitch and roll in uneven waves as water, vegetation, and time have played havoc on the structural integrity of this place. Great wisps of cobwebs hang from the ceilings and corners as a carpet of phosphorescent fungi covers nearly everything, save the numerous footpaths and gathering areas of the tusked behemoths that dwell here.
Perhaps two dozen of the monsters that attacked the merfolk tower infest the hall. Nests and burrows have been situated haphazardly around the wide chamber, fashioned of from all sorts of refuse: beach wood, old and spoiled tapestries, chunks of ruined masonry, and of course layers of packed lichen. Piles of rubbish, bones, and guano lie scattered about, piles in which several smaller versions of the creatures play.
At intervals, sections of exposed masonry have been rubbed clean of the fungi, instead plastered with sheets of sickly white ecdysis.
The creatures lumber about, hissing and snapping at each other and their young. Occasionally, you also hear human—or perhaps merfolk—cries of pain and/or terror.

Do you:

• Investigate the area
• Search for the source of the cries
• Continue watching the creatures
• Something else/Other

Liam searches for a way out. Although he'll go out of his way to help his companions, that courtesy does not extend to the merfolk or to strangers. Only a sure sign that one of his party is here will divert him from his search for an escape route.

You spy a tunnel leading away from this chamber and make for it. As eager as you are to be out of this place, you also don't relish the idea of being noticed and re-captured, so you take pains to avoid detection. It is slower going than you would like, bobbing and weaving around the various hovels and dwellings of the beasts, but failing at this stage of your escape cannot be an option. You have to make it out of here, find your companions, make it back to the Outpost, and… and what? Actually, help the merfolk; or will you try to forget this whole misadventure ever happened?
Just before reaching the mouth to the tunnel that most assuredly leads to the surface, sunlight, and safety, you crouch behind a pile of refuse long enough to allow a patrol of the creatures to pass when you notice a familiar-looking bracer. It is made of pigskin and dyed black, adored with pyrite inlay depicting stylized cornucopias and horseshoes.

"The Taldor cornucopia is a symbol of abundance," Sketch told you one night after hours of gambling with the miners. "And the horseshoe symbolizes luck in the Azlanti pantheon, while pyrite attracts wealth—alchemically speaking. They're my lucky cuffs," he said, crossing his arms in front of him and banging his wrists together. "I never take them off."

Your short reverie causes you to pause another moment. A small whimper coming from the burrow to your left catches your attention. Peering inside, you see Sketch curled against the far wall, holding his right arm tightly to his chest. It might be the low light, but he appears rather pale. He doesn't see you, his eyes locked in a thousand-yard stare.
Directly to his right (your left) are three of the monster-lings, smaller, welp-like versions of the tusked brutes. They are crouched over something on the floor, snapping and hiss at each other. Whatever it is has their complete attention. If you're quick, you might be able to pull Sketch out of the burrow without them immediately noticing. However, if you slip on the uneven and loose scree, you'll undoubtedly thrust yourself into a precarious situation.

What do you do?

Liam evaluates the young of the species. Would he be able to take one in a fight? What about all three? He contemplates using surprise to his advantage and actually assaulting them before grabbing Sketch.

Whether he thinks he can take the creatures or not, he'll use the bracer to get Sketch's attention. He'll silently hold it up, hoping to catch Sketch's eye without alerting the monster-lings. If Sketch is too far gone, so be it.

In reply to Liam (msg # 96):

Evaluating the creatures and situation sounds to me like Discern Realities. Go ahead and roll for that and post your questions, if applicable.

At first Sketch doesn't notice your attempts to catch his attention, instead he appears transfixed in some horrifying and distant daydream. However, after a moment he shudders as if in great pain before catching sight of you. His facial expression shifts from sheer terror to defiant resolve.
"Hey," he croaks, his throat dry. He swallows hard before trying again. "Hey …you slimy wankers, hey! Look at me… C'mon. You want another piece of me?" As he says this he tries to sit up and must use his left hand to steady himself, forcing himself to release the tight hold he has of his right arm over his chest. From your vantage point, you can see that his right hand and most of his forearm has been torn off.

13:03, Today: Liam rolled 10 using 2d6+1.  Discern Realities

What is about to happen?
What should I be on the lookout for?
What here is not what it appears to be?


Liam eyes the creatures. Yeah, he's starting to understand.

From what you can tell, Sketch now sees you at the mouth of the burrow and is trying to distract the three whelps so that you can take decisive action—whatever that may be. This isn't your first rodeo, so you know to keep your guard up even if it seems advantage is on your side. These littler creatures are still the size of fully-grown dwarves, and you are on their turf. Detecting you and crying out for help is something they can do in an instant, and that could make your escape next to impossible; or at least exponentially difficult.
The good news here is that it looks relatively straight forward: three young brute-lings versus a one-armed halfling suffering from severe blood loss and yourself.
One thing to note, however, is that the burrow itself should contain an escape tunnel in case the main entrance is attacked. In fact, you think you see it… just behind a curtain of dried skin shedding.

What do you do?
Remember, you take +1 forward any move you decide to take in this situation due to your having successfully discerned realities.

Liam reconnoiters the escape tunnel. If he can make sure no one is between him and the exit, then he can help keep the way clear for Sketch.

At that point, the creatures can call the whole nest for all he cares. As long as it's a clear shot to the exit, Liam is confident that even Sketch can outrun these guys.

He'll make sure the way is clear, then scream at the whelps to draw their attention.

Surveying what you believe to be the dwellings escape tunnel, confidence swells within you as you imaging Sketch taking flight and out-running the welps while you provide a grand distraction. The air so filled with cries of pain and torture, hisses and other unpleasant noises that the creatures don't pay Sketch much heed as he tries to create his own distraction for you.
Using his good arm, he drags himself closer to them, spitting insults in three different languages.
Once he closes the distance between himself and them, about five feet or so, they do turn their attention to him. One swipes at him, causing him to recoil back, as another leaps and slams his feet into his chest, pinning him to the ground. Staggered, he doesn't understand the peril he now finds himself in, but after a few seconds his head clears a little and the realization washes over him.
"No," he cries, trying to squirm in a feeble attempt to get the welp off of him. "No—no—no!"
In the blink of an eye, the third is on him, holding his other arm out, and the first grabs one of his legs. The second, perched on his chest, places its clawed foot on Sketch's neck, a razor-sharp talon posed over the halfling's throat. It yaps something, and although you don't understand it's language, you know it is gloating, enjoying your companion's terror.

Enter Liam.
You begin screaming at them, waving your arms and kicking loose scree into the dwelling. Immediately they disregard Sketch, instead forming up a protective circle of sorts around him. They bare their teeth, tusks, and claws. One actually has a frill atop its head that extends to display a plumb of bright, electric blue.
Focusing their attention on the main entrance of their abode from which they expect an attack, Sketch buries a hand spade from his adventuring gear deep into the third welp's inner thigh. Blood rushes from the wound in a crimson torrent and the welp collapses on top of the halfling!
Hearing the commotion, the other two turn their attention to their fallen kin. Confusion falls over them as they try to reconcile what is happening between the noises at the front door and their companions now in a death throe spasm on the floor behind them.

What do you do?
Remember, you have a +1 forward the next move you make in this situation.

Liam charges the whelp at Sketch's neck. As he builds up speed, he focuses on keeping his footing on the uneven, slippery ground. He'll need to drop out of a run at just the right moment, lifting his feet to catch the whelp in a drop-kick. Hopefully, the creature will sail right off of Sketch and leave Liam room to grab the halfling and rise up into a fireman's carry.

It's at the exact moment of execution that something occurs to Liam -- he's never even practiced a drop-kick before.

21:56, Today: Liam rolled 2 using 2d6.  Defy Danger (STR) or Hack & Slash, DM's choice.

edit: with a +1 that's a 3 I guess.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Sun 04 Oct 2020.

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was on a decent roll there for a moment…
Let go with Defy Danger. I think the consequences of a 'miss' provides us with more narrative options than Hack & Slash. Here is your ugly choice:

Although you've never ever actually done a maneuver like this before, you always thought they sounded pretty easy from the way the heroes always seemed able to dole out punishments in the epics and poems you've heard while growing up. Muscling through dangerous situations was what those guys were all about. Getting to the fight—that was the hard part. But kicking monster-tail? That was simple as, as…
Well, now that you're mid-kick, you aren't so sure.
Your original intent might have been to kick the first welp away from Sketch so that you could pick up your halfling friend and bolt through the escape tunnel before the welp recovers. However, now you know that you don't possess that kind of stopping power—at least not physically. You can knock the welp back enough for Sketch to attempt a break for it, or you can pick Sketch up in a fireman carry, but not both.

As far as Liam's concerned, that's an easy choice. He'll knock the creature away from Sketch.