Wasp's Sting- IC

[Ichneumon]

OOC-thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126293

Flashback to what happened weeks ago (you've read this already, but it is good to be able to read it again if you want to, the story about Lock etc):

The mountain villages at the foot of the Snowy Mountain had always been rather peaceful and there had never been much contact with the outside world and the “Treaty of Thronehold”, that declared warforged as living creatures, hadn’t had much impact. The farmers had always employed warforged workers without paying them and that hadn’t changed. The warforged were, in essence, treated as slaves and they hadn’t complained, ever, yet a few months ago a stranger had appeared. His name was Lock, a warforged bard, who sang about a warforged settlement, at the other side of the mountains where all of them are free. Lock had managed to convince 4 warforged to come with him and continue his journey over the Snowy Mountains to the warforged settlement. A group of angry conservative villagers had tried to stop them, calling Lock a thief, yet Lock and the 4 warforged had run away into the night.

Now you are all, separately, traveling through the mountains, searching for Lock.

This is the list of players/characters:


{table]Grumman|Smith (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=155417)|Warforged Artificer/Crusader/Fighter
Parlity|Kio Littensen (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=154094)|Human Warblade/Rogue
Scotty88|Veidro (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=155004)|Shifter Fighter/Swordsage
SoD|Thudruk (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=155050)|Goblin Warmage/Swashbuckler[/table]

The adventure starts now....
------------------------

Tonight, a terrible storm, more severe than others, is sweeping through the mountains and wilderness, driving all creatures to take shelter where they can find it. Even the hungry wolves, known to life in these areas, are hiding. An icy cold wind blows from the north and just a few stars cast a light in the darkness of night as most of them are blocked by threatening clouds. As bolts of lightning begin to slam to the ground and pieces of hail begin to strike the earth, the need for shelter becomes obvious. It’s a cold night and no sane person would leave their homes to go stride through the thunder and snow without good reason. However 4 brave souls ARE traveling through the storm this night. Each unaware of the other, but all on a similar mission.

One of them is Kio, a brave strong young man. The roaring wind and snow hampers his speed and his vision. He strides slowly through the black and white night. His torch, held up high, is flickering, it’s unlikely he can keep it lid for much longer. His torch however has attracted someone. A stranger, a goblin, has been following Kio for hours, curious to learn the reasons of a fellow traveler. His name Thudruk and as of yet he has stayed hidden, unnoticed by Kio.

Someone who doesn’t have as much difficulty traveling through the storm as Kio, is Smith, a warforged who’s noble cause has led him into this most hostile storm. As he is walking through the snow, he sees lying on the ground, half buried, a humanoid figure. It’s a Shifter and he seems just barely alive. Blood lies on the ground, looks like he was hit on the head by some blunt object. Somewhere, in the distance, a small light of a torch is visible.

---------------
You are all traveling around this area, yet most of you haven’t actually met. You are all likely to see the hill, if you decided to shout, others are close enough to hear it, if you have torches, others will see it.

[SoD]

Thudruk

Thudruk braces himself against the cold, the wind, and the rain.Doesn't this human have anywhere to rest, at all? No tent? No campsite he's headed to? he thinks to himself, shivering, and wishing he was better prepared than what he was. Why don't they tell us how to survive outside in the Academy...?

[Grumman]

Smith

Smith examines the Shifter to determine the extent of his injuries, though his lack of experience providing care to non-constructs works against him. Knowing that they are more vulnerable to injury from being moved, he decides to use his healing belt to ensure it is safe to do so.

Smith uses a charge from his healing belt to heal 2d8 points of damage:

[roll0]

He will remain cautious, as the shifter is still an unknown quantity.

[Scotty88]

Feeling a shot of energy shoot through him. Veidro opens his eyes on to see a Warforge standing over him. In a panic he tries to jump up only to fall back to one knee due to his head injury. He weakly draws his weapon and asks "who are you. are you the one who attacked me."

[Parlity]

Holding onto his torch, Kio stops and looks around, wondering if he heard a voice in the distance.

Listen [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Thunder roars. Ahead, in the distance, a large hill rises from the ground, its form illuminated by the occasional lighting bolt. It seems rocky and solid and climbing it in this weather would be difficult, but not impossible.

At one spot the clouds dissolve and a full moon comes through, as an eye watching over those that dare not sleep this evening. Kio didn't hear a thing of either the Shifter's shouts or the breathing of his stalker. Thudruk however, did hear Veidro's voice, although it was soft.

The healing belt heals Veidro's wounds. The wounds themselves weren't that severe, the cold had just made it worse and were the real reason for losing his consciousness. Although he is still somewhat weak and dazzled by what happened he has regained contiousness and feels relatively fine, except for the icy cold of course. He is quickly recovering and is strong enough to stand up and likely to hit and attack the warforged if he wanted to.

Thunder hits the hills. Sound of breaking rocks, thunder cleaving through. Wolves howl. In a second the hills are illuminated, strange slim silhouettes are moving on top of the hill, humanoid, it's not clear what they are doing, gazing into the darkness, looking in the direction of Kio's torch. They are making strange gestures with their arms and legs, they seem to be dancing?

---------------------------
I am not yet going to draw a map, as I think not having a map adds to the "lost and confusing" feeling of being lost in a snow storm. It's difficult to orientate. However, you are all less than 100 feet apart and the hills are 300 feet away.

[Grumman]

Smith responds to the Shifter's confusion by taking a step back, waiting to see how he reacts. He leaves his warhammer slung, despite the Shifter arming himself.

"I have not harmed you. You were unconscious, and needed help. In return for my assistance, I need to know why you are here."

Smith readies himself to sunder Veidro's sword if he tries to attack.

[Parlity]

Listen check for Grumman's voice [roll0].

Kio sees the figures on the hill and starts walking to them. He squints, trying to see better, and sniffs a little, hoping to catch a stray scent in the storm that could tell him more about the figures.

Activates Hunter's Sense, gain scent.

[Ichneumon]

(Kio doesn't hear Smith's voice.)

As Kio moves towards the whirling dancing figures, they seem to react. They retreat, quickly, not wanting Kio to come nearer, but also not wanting to move out of Kio's sight, as they adjust their speed to Kio's. They are react, dance, perfectly in sync. It does not look like they are afraid. Somehow it seems like the retreat is coordinated, like they know exactly what they are doing. While they are retreating, they do not stop dancing and a strange dance it is: hopping from one leg to the other, sometimes balancing on one leg or arm. The strangest thing of all is that it seems like they are doing this dance while walking on stilts. It's too dark to see anything but silhouettes. They smell strange, like sulfur and make no sound whatsoever.

[Scotty88]

After hearing the warforge words, veidro sticks his sword in to the ground to help himself get up. Then he leans against the tree and says "sorry if about arming myself against you but warforge was the reason you found me like this. i use to live with them cause we had similarities with each other til i guess they attack me for no reas..... i don't know if you know this but i see something out there pointing towards the torch flickering

[Grumman]

Smith stares at the Shifter for a moment, but decides to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, despite the evasive answer.

"I saw it, and was heading for it when I found you. If you can walk, you should follow. They may be able to provide you with shelter from this storm."

[Parlity]

Kio hesitates, then sets his backpack down and rummages through it looking for a sunrod. He ponders throwing a lit sunrod at the dancers if there's a good chance that he can throw it that far.

Listen check [roll0]

[SoD]

Thudruk

At the sudden revelation of light, Thudruk covers his eyes. Argh! Not a light creature...wait...he can see me.... Realising he's not quite as hidden as he had been, Thudruk hopes quietly that the human doesn't turn around...

[Ichneumon]

The sunrod makes the surrounding area as clear as day. The dancing silhouettes however are gone. As soon as the flash of light lightened the area, there is no trace of them ever having been there at all. Just like the shadows of the night, they have disappeared. Even the smell of sulfur, is gone. Kio is alone...

[Parlity]

Kio dashes to the sunrod and looks around.

Spot [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Kio dashes to the sunrod and looks around.

Spot [roll0]

You see nothing, but snow where the dancers were supposed to be. A few meters back, about where you came from, you see a globlin standing. In the distance a big hill is the only real visible landmark, it's rocky and there are likely to be places to hide. The moon is red and the storm seems to be becoming worse.

[SoD]

Thudruk

Thudruk stands still, standing out like the proverbial, staring like a deer caught in torchlight.

[Scotty88]

"well if you got any plans warforged i would like to help. i think the pain is leaving and im starting to feel all right now."

[Parlity]

Kio looks suspiciously at the goblin and says in a loud voice, "Hey you! What were those dancers?"

[Grumman]

Before Smith can respond, the torchlight he was following is drowned out by the golden light of a lit sunrod, a light which arcs away from its origin with a powerful throw.

Smith turns to the Shifter and says, "That can wait. If you want to help, follow me." Without waiting for a response, Smith starts running towards the lit area.

Smith can move 60 ft/round, or 20 ft/round if there's enough snow to count as difficult terrain. Listen checks would be ~-18 if he's running, -6 if the snow is deep enough that he has to hustle, with the usual modifiers for distance and distraction.

[Scotty88]

sensing the warforged has good intentions he tries to rush along side with the warforged in the towards the lit area.

[SoD]

Thudruk

Eyes wide, the goblin speaks; "I don't know...I've never been this way before...". His finger twitch slightly, and he squints at the light.

[Parlity]

Seeing the goblin's fingers twitch, Kio drops his torch and draws his longsword. "What are you doing here?"

[Ichneumon]

As the warforged and the shifter behind him reach the source of the light they see it is a human, male, holding a torch. As they reach him, he drops the torch and draws his weapon. Not at them however, but at a goblin.

Thunder smashes in the ground far away, the sound of a thousand giants marching far away. The snow hampers your vision (-4 on Spot and Search checks). The torch, lying on the ground, extinguishes as a severe wind blows snow of the ground and into your faces. It's difficult to move in this weather and the only thing standing solid is the massive rocky hill that towers above the surrounding country.

[SoD]

Thudruk

As soon as the weapon is drawn, Thudruks eyes open even further, a slightly panicy look on his face. "I, ah, I-I'm just a traveler! I'm not trying to rob you or anything! Just a traveler looking for a friend!"

[Grumman]

Smith slows to a walking pace when he sees the goblin. When he thinks he's close enough for the human to hear, he shouts:

"Hello there! When you lit the sunrod I thought you were in trouble. A single goblin isn't what I expected."

[Parlity]

"Hello there warforged!" Kio calls back. "I saw whirling dancers on stilts that smelled of sulfur. They kept moving back out of the torchlight and I threw a sunrod to catch sight of them, when they disappeared and this goblin here was behind me."

He hesitates, looking suspiciously at the goblin, then sheathes his longsword and picks up the extinguished torch and the lit sunrod.

Keeping a wary eye on the goblin, Kio asks the warforged, "I've been looking for you, are you Lock?"

[SoD]

Thudruk

Thudruk looks breifly at the warforged before going back to looking harmless. Or as harmless as a goblin can...

[Grumman]

"Ha! I am also looking for him. How about you, goblin?"

[SoD]

Thudruk

"Uh, no. Not exactly...I'm looking for my guard. He...wandered off. With Lock. I think."

[Ichneumon]

The cold harsh wind blows, whispering.
The storm rages onward. The only true landmark is that one big rocky hill. It might provide cover. hint hint hint

[Scotty88]

As the incident settles Veidro sheathes his scimitar and then says "hrm seems like we most likely have the same goal in searching warforged although i do not know who this Lock guy is. I use to live amongst them when they was around. Then they attacked me and left me for dead. Thats when this warforged found me and healed me. but for now we need to find a cave or something til this storm passes."

[Parlity]

"You're right. We might find shelter on that hill."

[Ichneumon]

(Alright, I'm just going to assume you are all now going to the hill, my quiet PCs)

In the dark night, the adventures move towards the massive hill that towers above the surrounding country. A few narrow ledges offer scant protection from the elements, but closer inspection reveals a massive, arched entryway, at least 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide, set into the side of the hill. Whatever space lies beyond the doorway, it is likely to be dry and safe from lightning, snow and hail. The construction seems quite sturdy, so the likelihood of collapse, even in severe conditions such as these is remote.

Surrounding the doorway lie rocks and pebbles.

The stone chamber beyond the entrance measures at least ten paces square. Peeling paint and broken scrollwork suggest that it was once decorated with some care, but by now only dust remains. Three massive stone doors-one each to the left and the right, and one directly acros from the entrance- lead deeper into the hill. Other than the old dusty scrollwork a bag made of linnen lies in the middle of the room.... next to the body of a humanoid creature. It's too dark inside to see the exact nature of this creature, at least when standing outside, but he or she seems rather powerful build.

[Grumman]

"I suggest we search the structure before we make camp. It may be inhabited, and the entranceway makes a poor defensive position."

[Ichneumon]

*Searching requires a check*

[Grumman]

*Searching requires a check*
Not that sort of search: Smith is suggesting that the group go room to room and kill anything nasty before they set up camp between said nasties and the door to the outside.

[Ichneumon]

Not that sort of search: Smith is suggesting that the group go room to room and kill anything nasty before they set up camp between said nasties and the door to the outside.

never mind. :smallredface:

[Parlity]

"Huh, good idea," Kio says slowly, as if he had been distracted. He sniffs a bit, peering at the body from outside the entranceway before cautiously looking around.

Knowledge check (local) for information about the hill [roll0]

Activating Hunter's Sense, gain scent.
Spot [roll1]
Listen [roll2]
Move Silently [roll3]

Search [roll4]

[Ichneumon]

For generations the inhabitants of this area have been telling stories about this hill, calling it Paimon's quarter, saying it's cursed and the home of Paimon the fairy king. Famous bedtime stories resolve around heroes being trapped by evil fairies, twisted insane, dancing with blades on hands and feet. Nothing about a doorway or structure though. Most of these stories would be about heroes being foolish enough to camp on top of the hill and disturb the fairies.

The room at the other side smells like parchment and fungus. The corps has no particular odour, through the darkness you can see what type of creature it is: it's a warforged.

It seems the doorway used to be covered by a rock door that's would blend in naturally with the rest of the hill. Something however crudely destroyed the door as pieces of it lie all around the place.

You hear no sound, except for your own breath and the wind.

[Grumman]

"I am not built for stealth, so I can carry the torch. Anything that takes the bait, we crush."

Spot check to identify the body as a Warforged: [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

The warforged is Shield, Thudruk's warforged. He is naked and the only thing lying near him (except for parchment and scrolls that lie all over the place) is a linnen bag. Written on the warforged's chest in red blood is the following text (written in Common): "This soulless body we return to Thudruk, our gift to him". The blood is still fresh.

The room is empty, except for the scrolls, the linnen bag, the warforged's corps and the three stone doors. The walls are painted with texts and images, but the paint is to old to really tell what it's about.

[Parlity]

Kio hands the sunrod to Grumman. "I remember legends about this hill. It's said to be the cursed home of Paimon the fairy king. Heroes are made mad and dance with blades strapped to their hands and feet."

Pointing at the rubble by the doorway, Kio says, "This rock door would have blended into the hill. Something crudely destroyed it."

Kio looks at the body, inside the linen bag, ruffles through the scrolls and parchments and checks the 3 doors for traps and how to open them.

Taking 10 on searching.

[Grumman]

Smith follows Kio into the room. Once he has verified that Shield is dead and not just incapacitated, he helps Kio search for traps.

Search check: [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Shield is scorched and corroded all over his body, like if he has been submerged in some kind of powerful acid. He really is dead, although other than the acid damage there doesn't seem to be anything that severe wrong with him.

The linnen bag is filled with woodcarving tools and materials. Small wooden statues, one of them of a goblin, resembling Thudruk. It's not finished yet though. The detail of the statues however can only mean they'd taken hours and hours to make. Nights can be lonesome for warforged as their masters sleep and only expect them to work at day. Some warforged therefore take on such hobbies to occupy their hands and mind while they wait for the sun to rise. There is nothing further in the linnen bag.

Some of the parchments and scrolls have written texts on them, here are a view of them, in no particular order:


...."We've finally finished this place, hopefully we'll now be able to continue serving our lord while escaping prosecution. Those fools don't understand and just do what their priests tell them to. Paimon will one day return from his banishment"...

..."succeeded in summoning him. It was nothing like we had expected. We'd drawn the seal and gracefully and with style our master appeared again. It's cruel how they treated him, punished him. We should"....

...."It seems the banishment from the king's lands wasn't enough, all the churches have declared today that our lord is an enemy of the GODS. We seem to be running out of friends and drowning in enemies."...

..."Our master returned from the royal dance mutilated, his hands and feet cut of and replaced by sword blades. He'd tainted the king and asked him for a duel. He'd beaten the king, as our master is skilled both in dueling and in dancing, and the king had punished him like this, before banishing him from his kingdom. We are all banished now. My poor poor lord Paimon."...

..."Serving our lord can be tiresome and some of my friends are turning insane, some have mutilated themselves, cutting of their hands and feet, like happened with Paimon. They say they do this out of loyalty, but something doesn't feel right."....

There are also many used scrolls of a spells that create food and drink.


The doors don't seem to be trapped. All three of them seem to be easy to slide open. They are old, firm, but don't seem that heavy.

[SoD]

Thudruk

Over the body of his old guard, Thudruk slumps his shoulders. "Shield...what's happened to you? Who did this? You stupid creature...why didn't you stay where you were meant to? Then you'd still be alive...wait...how did they know about me?" This isn't right...something's gone strange here.

"I'll find who did this. I'll find out why. I'll make them pay. Then, then I will mourn you, my friend." Resolutely, Thudruk collects the statues, and pockets them. "Thank you, friend."

[Scotty88]

Veidro had stuck close to Smith to because he had the torch with him. obsevering his new comrades as they search out the cave. Then seeing the pain of loss hang over Thudruk Veidro walks over "Veidro sorry for your loss."

[SoD]

Thudruk

Thudruk turns on Veidro with a fierce look in his eye. "Don't. Don't even think about pitying me! Not now! We'll deal with whatever did this, then mourn him!" As he speaks, his temper slowly loosens, before disapearing all together. He draws out his handaxe and starts waving it about in time with his words. "Whoever did this will pay dearly! Show yourself, you sick bastard! COME OUT AND DEAL WITH ME!"

[Parlity]

"Thanks," Kio says to Smith.

Kio eyes Thudruk warily. "We might find whoever did this through one of the doors. They look like they are not trapped and will open easily."

[SoD]

Thudruk

"Let them come! I'll cut them down where they stand!" Thudruk slumps down a bit. "they killed him...

[Ichneumon]

Suddenly a voice, sounding from the other side of the left door (left that is, when you have your back to the entrance). The voice is softened by the thick door, but can clearly be heard when standing in front of it. The voice is high, feminine, yet somewhat unnatural and softly speaks in a formal tone. Other sounds can be heard too, persons moving and whispering, yet all soften when the feminine voice starts a speech.

"Fellow cursed and damned followers of Paimon, we've gathered here to pay our respect to the great sacrifice made by this soulless creature, he was nameless too, but called Gardner by himself and others. He had a meaningless life, insignificant, just like many others of his kind, but we've given him a death of true meaning. It's difficult to say whether his refusal to willingly accept our gift came from a deluded idea of the equality of his kin to those that have a soul, like us, or from real hatred towards us and our goals. However, his unwillingness to cooperate is and was insignificant too. We need to focus on our goal, we must not yield, yet we may not loose our morale. We shall return the body of the warforged to the owner tomorrow, at dawn. We might be hunted down by the gods and governments, but we are not thieves. Let us now be silent for a moment and think about the life that we've taken of this creature."

[Grumman]

Trying to remain as quiet as possible, Smith slowly unslings his warhammer and makes a punching gesture at the door. He then looks to the others for a response.

[Grumman]

What are the doors made of, and can I estimate how thick they are?

Knowledge (Architecture and engineering): [roll0]

I'd also want to estimate how close to the door that voice was:

Listen check: [roll1]

[Ichneumon]

The person would be around 30-40 feet away from the door, as far as you can guess.

The door is made of stone and rather thick, it's an old door though, so if you'd want to break through them, you most likely could...

[Parlity]

Kio shrugs while looking at Smith and mimes opening the door.

He draws his longsword and quietly moves to stand to the left of the doorway.

[SoD]

Thudruk

Sniffling slightly, Thudruk stands up straight, to his full height, axe in hand. "They will pay." he whispers to himself.

[Ichneumon]

OOC: I'm unsure, should I just assume one of you tries to break through the door?:smallconfused:

[Grumman]

Smith waits for Kio to open the door. He had first thought to crush the speaker with the door, but at 30 feet she would be too far away for that to be feasable. Better to open it normally instead, rather than risk losing the element of surprise by trying and failing to break open a stone door.

That, and I was kind of waiting for Scotty to post, just in case he had some insight into our plans.

[Scotty88]

With a wide ear to ear grin on his face "thats what veidro likes to hear a fiery passion to get revenge on those who did you wrong." Then he hears the voice coming from the door then he draws his scimitar very slowly. Then he looks at smith and whispers "no breaking door the noise will make person run away stealth is best option."

[Ichneumon]

OOC: I am just posting this already, mainly because I don't know how much time I will have later this weekend. I'm assuming Parlity tries to open the door.

-----

The door opens and the party witnesses something they've never seen before. A room, dark and filled with lit candles, with in the middle a closed coffin and three strange humanoid creatures standing around it. All three have a tough gray skin and pale yellow eyes. They wear torn clothes, one of them wears a dirty white dress (or what's left of it) and the other two wear some kind of priest's robes. Their arms ad legs end in long bone blade, smooth but they are actual porous. They have no mouths.

Picture from source book (not entirely representative for this situation, but you get the idea):
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/7089/dancer.jpg

All of them seem confused when they see the party. One of them, the one in the dress, points at them, making movements with her arm, trying to say they are welcome. While doing so, she speaks, eventhough she has no visible mouth: "Strangers, welcome! We didn't expect you here." Then, she notices Smith, "Ah you brought another warforged! That's great! As you can see, we were somewhat running out of them!"

If you decide to attack, you should all roll for initiative.

The map
S,T,K,V: the party
C: The coffin
D: Dancers, the strange creatures
^:Candle
-:wall
.:floor
..........
..^.....^.
.....D....
....C.....
...DC.D...
..........
.^........
---.K-----
...ST.V...
..........

[Grumman]

Initiative rolls:
{table]Smith:|[roll0]
Kio:|[roll1]
Veidro:|[roll2]
Thudruk:|[roll3][/table]

Smith's available maneuvers:
{table]1|Charging Minotaur
2|Crusader's Strike
3|Douse the Flames
4|Leading the Attack
5|Vanguard Strike[/table]
[roll4]
[roll5]

The second roll skips the result of the first roll, so if they come up 2 and 3, they'd give me Crusader's Strike and Leading the Attack.

[Grumman]

Smith says nothing, but charges at the closest of the dancers, his warhammer poised to strike.

In the surprise round, Smith makes a partial charge at the bottom-left dancer.

+7 to hit, 20/*3 critical, d8+2 damage

Roll to hit: [roll0]
Roll to confirm (if necessary): [roll1]
Roll for damage: [roll2]

Smith gets -2 to his AC until the next round - in this case until the first proper round of combat.

[Ichneumon]

All three dancers seem surprised at the sight of hostility. The female one screams: "Honourless Barbarians!" The others say nothing, but judging from their motions they are not less scared.

Smith hits the deadly dancer and although he visibly wounds him, there is no blood, nothing, but some colourless liquid- no blood they don't even have that human characteristic any more.

[Parlity]

Kio swings open the door. He runs into the room following Smith and attacks the closest dancer.

Activating stance: island of blades - ally flanks adjacent opponents regardless of position.

Using maneuver Shadow Blade Technique: roll attack roll twice, take best roll or take worst roll and gain +1d6 cold damage.

attack bonus: +7 +2 flank
[roll0] [roll1]

damage: +3 strength, sneak attack 2d6 if applicable
damage: [roll2] [roll3]

[Parlity]

taking best attack roll, roll to confirm critical [roll0]

[Grumman]

It's a surprise round, which means we get an extra round to act, but we can only take a single standard action during that extra round. You can use a partial charge, move or attack, but you can't move and make an attack that requires a standard action.

So the order of actions goes like this:
Smith - standard action
Veidro - standard action
Thudruk - standard action
Kio - standard action
initiative 19+ - full action
Smith - full action
initiative 15-19 - full action
Veidro - standard action
Thudruk - standard action
initiative 11-14 - full action
Kio - full action
initiative 0-11 - full action
...

[Ichneumon]

It's a surprise round, which means we get an extra round to act, but we can only take a single standard action during that extra round. You can use a partial charge, move or attack, but you can't move and make an attack that requires a standard action.

So the order of actions goes like this:
Smith - standard action
Veidro - standard action
Thudruk - standard action
Kio - standard action
initiative 19+ - full action
Smith - full action
initiative 15-19 - full action
Veidro - standard action
Thudruk - standard action
initiative 11-14 - full action
Kio - full action
initiative 0-11 - full action
...


You are correct. To clarify for people who don't know the rules on charging (I had to check too, to be sure), charging is normally a full round action in which you basically get to move more than your normal speed and attack while gaining an attack bonus and an AC penalty. However, because you are not allowed to have full round actions in a surprise round, that wouldn't have been possible here, HOWEVER the srd also reads the following:

If you are able to take only a standard action or a move action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed). You can’t use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action or move action on your turn.

Which means that a charge is allowed, as long as you don't move more than your normal speed.

[Parlity]

How about Kio activates his stance before opening the door? Changing Kio's action to a partial charge. Attack roll including stance's flanking bonus [roll0] damage [roll1] sneak attack [roll2]

[SoD]

Thudruk

"FOR SHIELD!!!" Thudruk yells, as charges towards the dancer who talked, leaping onto the coffin partway there, his axe swinging wildly.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
Current AC; 15

[Scotty88]

With a smile on his face Veidro shakes as he shifts into razorclaw then moves to the dancer his other comrades did not.


Attack: [roll0] If critical [roll1]

Damage: [roll2] if there was a Critical; damage [roll3] x2

[Ichneumon]

[Alright, this will be a long post, so I will divide everything in crunch (who hits and what) and in fluff (the NPCs reaction and such), also, I will edit the map to the best of my understanding]

-----
Quick overview of this round:
Attack of Smith: Hits
Attack of Veidro: Hits
Attack of Thudruk: Hits
Attack of Kio + Kio's sneak attack: Both hit
(I agree with Parlity's second turn, even if it would not be correct, so we can move on with the game)
Dancer initiatives rolled: 10, 8 & 11, so they are last
One dancer down
-----
The Updated map
S,T,K,V: the party
C: The coffin
D: Dancers, the strange creatures
X: the decapitated dancer
^:Candle
-:wall
.:floor
..........
..^.....^.
.....D....
....T.....
...DC.X...
...SK.V...
.^........
---..-----
..........
..........

T stands on a C

----What happened?

Smith charged at the most left dancer, who sees Smith coming at him and he protects his body with his long sword-like arms. The warhammer clashes against the "sword" and both the dancer and Smith start to resonate a bit when the two weapons clash. The dancer starts to laugh in a weird hyena-like way. "Is this how you give your life purpose, Warforged?" He does look weakened though.

The most right dancer didn't see Veidro coming, bewildered by Smith's attack on the other dancer and the screaming of the third dancer. Veidro hits the dancer hard in his neck and decapitates him, his head flying to a corner of the room and his body falling on the ground beneath Veidro. There is no blood. He seems dead.

Before the head has fallen on the ground though Thudruk has jumped on the coffin, "For Shield!", wildly waving his axe, tearing the remains of clothes of the dancer who spoke and wounding her.

As if this wasn't bad enough Kio hits the dancer, who is still perplexed by the resonance of the clash with Smith. The dancer cries out in pain, screaming: "Ever looked at the dark blue sky and wished you could turn it red?" His screams of agony turn into maniacal laughter and he (and the female dancer) rise up and ready for battle.

[Parlity]

I'd like to and am willing to abide by the rules. Please tell me what was not correct.

[Ichneumon]

I'd like to and am willing to abide by the rules. Please tell me what was not correct.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. As far as I could see, you were perfectly abiding the rules, but in case you weren't (as I don't know the combat rules very well either), I accepted them. You did nothing wrong.

[Grumman]

Smith's available maneuvers:
{table]1|Charging Minotaur
2|Crusader's Strike
3|Douse the Flames[/table]
[roll0]
Leading The Attack
Vanguard Strike

[Grumman]

Smith responds to the taunt with another strike of his hammer, seeking to silence the creature once and for all.

Smith uses Vanguard Strike (allies gain +4 bonus on attacks for 1 turn if it hits).

To hit: [roll0] +3 BAB, +2 STR, +2 flanking, +1 m'work weapon
To confirm (Not applicable): [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

If this is sufficient to kill the dancer, Smith will move to a flanking position on the third dancer, to the top-left of it.

[SoD]

Thudruk

Thudruk grins, unbidden thoughts resurfacing. This is what you should be doing...fighting to the death... Putting all his strength behind the handaxe, he swing again, at the lone Dancer, while his teammates are busy with the other.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Ichneumon]

The dancer, who is now being surrounded by both Kio and Smith, doesn't know who to face and evade and Smith's hammer hits him hard, one of his bladelike appendages (the left arm) breaks off, its smashed into bits. He howls and whispers, his voice sounding a lot more sane and calm than it used to: "I've not only given purpose to the death of one warforged but also purpose to the life of another. I gladly die to give significance to you life, warforged. Now I can die." He starts to giggle again. He seems to tremble, ill, dazzled. The loss of a limb seems to take a harsh toll on his health. He doesn't look like he'll strike to attack.

The female dancer, looking somewhat annoyed by the gibberish of the other dancer, hops from one bony appendage to the other, evading, blocking all the attacks of Thudruk and turning cartwheels while she rotates like a top. She looks at the shifter, shouting: "Don't listen to him, Veidro, he's turned insane by years of isolation and doesn't see the significance of our cause! The death of those warforged was a necessity, we need to awaken our lord, unite with him. You will not be stand in our way!"


---Quick overview:
Smith's attack: hits the dancer, who is seems to be going down.
Thudruk's attack: misses

[Scotty88]

Seeing the head rolling in the dark Veidro laughs at the dancer he attacks fall to the ground. Then he sets his sights on the dancer shouting at him and move towards it yelling out. "i do not care what your cause is what i care bout is why my friends left and attacked me and if they are in danger i will save them. I DONT CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR LORD."

[spoiler]
Attack:[roll0] If Critical [roll1]

Damage: [roll2] If Critical; Critical Damage [roll3] x2

[Ichneumon]

Seeing the head rolling in the dark Veidro laughs at the dancer he attacks fall to the ground. Then he sets his sights on the dancer shouting at him and move towards it yelling out. "i do not care what your cause is what i care bout is why my friends left and attacked me and if they are in danger i will save them. I DONT CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR LORD."

[spoiler]
Attack:[roll0] If Critical [roll1]

Damage: [roll2] If Critical; Critical Damage [roll3] x2

I'm unsure, is that a critical hit? :smalleek:

[Scotty88]

lol i guess cause 30-11=19 and my scimitar is 18-20 for crit but next time i make it simpler than this and just reroll to see if i back my criticals up. but to help this one out the 1st roll was a normal attack but with out the razorclaw and smiths vanguard mods its a 19. the one beside that one is only used if the first one is 18 or more which by freaky luck it was.

[Ichneumon]

The dancer grins, while hearing Veidro shout in anger, she turns towards him as he runs towards her in wild rage. She's about to make a dramatical, proud and overly confident villainous speech, while preparing to take the blow. However, Veidro is too fast and his speed surprises her. "Friends? You call them-" She's unable to finish the sentence as the vengeful shifter bashes into her. She hits the ground immediately and instantly she's dead. Her life ended mid-sentence.

[Parlity]

Kio slashes at the remaining dancer.

Using maneuver shadow blade technique. attack roll 1 [roll0] attack roll 2 [roll1] damage [roll2] sneak attack damage [roll3] picking better attack roll

[Ichneumon]

The last dancer falls to the ground, wounded by Kio's blade.

The room seems empty and silent, after 30-60 seconds of actions. The adventures stand alone in the room with the coffin and the corpses of the 3 strange dancers. The only sound that can be heard is the wind from outside, blowing.

[Note to self: Don't repeat the incident in which for an entire adventure the players didn't receive ANY damage at all.]

[Grumman]

Smith slings his warhammer again and paces around the coffin, looking for any signs of who or what is in it.

Search check: [roll0]

[Parlity]

Kio helps Smith search.

Aid another on Search check. [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

The coffin is made out of wood and painted black. It looks like it was build quite recently, very recently, and in a rush. Not all parts are painted well and the paint hasn't had time to dry yet. Furthermore a strange smell comes from within the coffin, like charcoal and a smell of decay. The coffin has no iron parts and isn't locked.

[Grumman]

"Should I look inside? It may contain some clue as to how much these creatures value this place."

[Parlity]

Kio nods at Smith, his longsword held ready.

[Grumman]

Smith gives the others time to back away, if they so wish, and opens the coffin.

[Ichneumon]

Inside the coffin lies the body of a warforged, almost completely black, scortched and burned. The smell of fire, charcoal and acid. Parts of his body look like something has been shewing on him. Both of his legs are missing. He wears clothes, or at least what is left of it. He has gloves and a hat, a cloak, all torn and with holes. His body is also covered with a strange substance that looks like gren... blood? In one of his hands he has a lumb of strange flesh, rotten and decaying. One of his eyes is "dead", the other is burning bright, fixed in 1 position. This warforged is alive. He looks traumatized and turned completely into himself, not noticing what happens around him. He repeats just the following words, mumbling them: "I am Lock, I should've know. I am the real villain."

OOD: Also, look at the OOC thread.

[Grumman]

Smith casts Repair Moderate Damage on Lock, then offers a hand to help him out of the coffin.

Repair Moderate Damage heals [roll0]

[Scotty88]

After the dancers were all dead Veidro shrinks back to normal. Then Joins his comrades over by the coffin. waiting for them to open it up sword ready to strike anything that has bad intentions. After realizing it was the warforged they all was looking he lowers his blade. Seeing the damage done to Lock Veidro gained pity for the Warforged. All the anger and resentment he felt melted away. So he stands there looking onward whats before him. but he still had questions for Lock but the way Lock looked, he may not get any answers

[Ichneumon]

When the spell is cast on the warforged he seems to be reborn and all the major damage seems to be healed. His legs regrow, his skin looks reforged, the acid-damage is removed and both of his eyes look healthy. It's not just his body that looks better, his mind, his spirit, seems to be repaired too. The warforged, who identified himself as Lock, seems to "awaken" from his trauma "into" this world again. He becomes aware of his environment and regains consciousness. As soon as he starts looking around, his majestic demeanor becomes undeniable, there is almost something royal to his entire visage, something wise, something pride. Some wounds though, psychological injury, can't be repaired by any spell, and his royal demeanor can't hide the terrible sadness and pain in his eyes.

He hesitates to speak, but when he does, he does so very fluently and eloquent. "I.. I must thank you for... saving me, strangers. After I was saved years ago from slavery, I took on the name of Lock and people started to call me Lock the Wise, the Honest or just Lock the Good, however, after recent events, I think my old name of Gardener, picked by my former owner, and the titles of the Fool or the Naive, might be more appropriate." He accepts Smith's hand as he helps him out of the coffin.

"Given that you are all here and saved me, I must assume you know something about me or about this place, but undoubtedly you have questions and I'll try to answer them. But first, tell me your names, so I know how to properly address you all."

After looking at the bodies of the dancers lying all over the place, we need to hurry though, there isn't much time, the warforged looks at each one of the group, but looks surprised, and somewhat happy at Veidro. "You must be Veidro. Your friends speak very high of you. It's an honour to meet you at last."

---
EDIT: Also, Parlity, I'll need some more background on Kio. Such as the name of the warforged Kio is looking for and how well Kio knew these orc that owned the warforged, (if I understand your background correctly). If you don't know a name or more background, I can make one up.

[SoD]

Thudruk

Thudruk holds his handaxe by his side, but not sheathing it. "I am Thudruk. I was Shields owner, master and friend." he says, with a glare.

[Parlity]

Kio backs away from the coffin to give Lock room to stand up. "I'm Kio, Worker's friend. What's happened to him?"

[Ichneumon]

Something in his eyes, Lock seems to remember something when he hears those names, he seems to remember there is still hope. Still a way to redeem himself.

"Shield? Worker? I don't know what has become of them, but I fear it can't be good and it is all my fault. I was tricked by lies and illusions, made to believe the inhabitants of this place, whatever they really are, could guide us to the settlement and freedom we seek, I led my followers, who believed in me, into this place. These things, trapped us, locked us up. Somewhere deep inside this hill is a big ink-black pool, silent and deadly. I don't know why, but the dancers wanted to know if it is possible to go through the pool, dive in it, go to what is beneath, whatever it might be. The water of the pool though is poisonous, burns the skin and there are dangerous fish swimming in it. They are too scared to go in it themselves. Each day, they threw one of us inside the pool, to see if we could survive and tell them what we saw, what was beneath. All of my followers though were retreaved completely disfigured and dead, I could hear them scream in agony as their bodies were exposed to the water. Scarred, burned, almost unrecognisable. Parts of them were even eaten away by something. Eventually only 3 of us were left, Shield, Worker and me. I was thrown in yesterday, but pretended to be dead when they retreaved my body, how I survived, I don't know. I fear Shield and Worker might not be so lucky. We don't have much time."

[Scotty88]

quite relieved but somewhat shocked that Lock knew his name. "hmph they speak highly of Veidro but yet they nearly killed Veidro. Where my friends?, Were they thrown in also?"

[Grumman]

"I am sorry, but Shield is also dead. We found him in the next room."

Lowering his voice, Smith continues, "I came to warn you that you had made enemies who were moving against you, but it seems you have found enemies here, as well. I think I have a solution, but it can wait until we find Worker."

[Ichneumon]

After the question of Veidro, Lock seems to have difficulty deciding how to answer. "I... I don't know where they are or what happened. The dancers told us it would be better if we told no one where we would be going. Your friends didn't like what they did, but the dancers convinced us it was... needed..... They liked being with you, but they thought you might not be able to resist coming with them or following them.... I don't know what happens to them, before we came to the hill we had a small... disagreement... and they left us."

After the words of Smith, "WHAT! This can't be true. Show me his body! I must see it!" Accepting the results of your actions isn't always easy.

[Parlity]

Kio sheaths his longsword and says, "Shield's body is in the other room." He walks quickly into the other room.

[Ichneumon]

As you enter the old first room, you all see you are no longer alone, a horrible black gibbering mass of flesh and teeth, while babbling incoherently, is sitting on top of Shield's body, devouring it. It has the form of an amoeba, but countless of eyes and mouths form and disappear all over the creature, often retreating into its body even as they become apparent. The creature is quite small and it moves over Shield's body in a eerie, disjointed fashion, as it lunges several of its mouths in a direction, bites in the ground or in a part of Shields body and drags its body behind it.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ToMagic_Gallery/96135.jpg

You can all hear gibberish coming from its mouths, yet 1 voice, sounding less insane can be heard, special, not like the others, saying "The void, the emptiness, please, let it stop" is present.

[Ichneumon]

Initiative of the gibbering mass of flesh and teeth: [roll0]

If you decide to attack it, that is. I will include a map tomorrow, but you can all assume that he is within walking distance.

[Grumman]

Damn, broke the post

Initiative:
[roll0]

[roll1]
[roll2]

[Parlity]

initiative [roll0]

[SoD]

Thudruk

Seeing Shields body being devoured by the thing, Thudruk yells out in anger, hatred, and just a bit of panic, before screaming at the creature. "taikuutta ohjus!

As he shouts, a glowing orb flies from his outstreched hand, and streams towards the creature with unnerving accuracy.

I cast magic missle at the darkness! [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

[OOC] Alright, now how am I going to do this...

Firstly, Thrudruk made an attack and it hits.

Initiative of those involved:
Monster: 16
Smith: 3
Kio: 9
Veidro and Thruduk: not yet determined.

I'll determine them now:
Veidro: [roll0]
Thudruk: [roll1]

In any case, we are still in the first round of combat. Thudruk already did his turn for this round and depending on the initiatives of Veidro and Thudruk my next post will not only contain a more detailed story of how Thudruk hit the thing, but also its reaction.

[Ichneumon]

OOC: Alright, so the initiative order is: Thudruk, Monster, Veidro/Kio, Smith, Lock.
I'll roll again for both Kio and Vediro to determine who is better. I'll roll a d6. if 1, 2 or 3: Kio goes first. If 4, 5 or 6: Veidro goes before Kio.
[roll0]
-----
The map

S,T,K,V: the party
L: Lock, (the warforged NPC)
G: Gibbering mass with mouths and eyes.
C: Shield's body
-,|:wall
.:floor
____________
|..........|
|V.........|
K..........|
LS....C....|
|.T...G....|
|..........|
|..........|
|..........|
|..........|
|..........|
___.._______


So, actually this map is squared, if you count the "squares". If you got confused, you just got through the door on the left, you are in the original room, with the original entrance in the south. The other doors aren't drawn as they are closed.

As Thudruk shouts, a glowing orb flies from his outstreched hand, and streams towards the creature with unnerving accuracy. It hits the target and as it hits it, the monster stops eating and all eyes look into Thudruks direction. Angry, mad, insane and full of hate. All the mouths have stopped saying gibberish and now, in synch, start to say magical words as well, ancient words. As the creature speaks the words of power, the words echo in Thudruk's ears, making the world itself less comprehensible for him, making it difficult for him to concentrate, to focus, to reason. All others can hear the the words to, but as faint murmurs coming from around Thudruk's head and they don't suffer the effects. The echoes (as perceived by Thudruk) become louder and louder and make him confused (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#confused).

The monster doesn't move towards the party, but waits to see who'll strike next. His eyes seem to be full of joy when seeing the goblin suffer.

Thudruk is entitled to a will save to negate it, or suffer it for 5 rounds. [SoD may throw for the saving throw before next round starts, else I'll throw it instead.]

[Scotty88]

Somewhat shocked to what Lock to him Veidro stare out into open space. Then snapping back into reality after Kio speaks out about Shield and the others head out back to the room where Shield's body was at. He had more questions for Lock but it would have to wait for they had a battle at hand with a disgusting lookin blob. But he looks at Lock "Veidro has more questions for you but they can wait." he looks at the blob and quick draws his weapon then shifts

[Ichneumon]

His eyes fixed on the collection of flesh, eyes and mouths sitting on top of the corps of his former friend, Lock stammers: "Yes, ... Veidro... Of course, we will talk..."

[SoD]

Thudruk

[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Thudruk tries to resist the words entering his mind, yet he is too weak. The words dominate his thoughts, his perception, rewrite them, replace them. It's overwhelming and he doesn't know what to do. Confusion fills his entire persona. Beneath the confusion, the madness, however is sanity, one word: Xoriat.

[Parlity]

Kio draws his longsword and moves closer to the monster. "Who was that speaking before? What were you saying about the void and emptiness?"

[Grumman]

Smith turns to Lock and tells him, "Here, hold this," passing him the sunrod as he does so. He then casts Bull's Strength on himself.

[Ichneumon]

[Sorry about the late reply]

Lock accepts the sunrod from Smith and he starts humming in a very morale boosting manner.

The monster doesn't seem to react at all to Kio's words.

[Grumman]

Since nobody else seems to be taking their turns, I'll take mine.

Smith's available maneuvers:
{table]1|Charging Minotaur
2|Douse the Flames
3|Leading the Attack
[/table]
[roll0]
Crusader's Strike
Vanguard Strike

[Grumman]

Smith shouts "Get off him!" at the amorphous thing and charges, smashing into it with his shoulder.

Smith uses the Charging Minotaur strike to bull rush the creature. It doesn't get an attack of opportunity, and must make an opposed strength check, with the usual modifiers for size.

Strength check:
[roll0]

If Smith's roll is higher, he knocks it back 5 feet, plus another 5 feet for every 5 points by which he exceeds its roll, and deals [roll1] damage.

If he knocks it back far enough to hit the wall, he deals an additional [roll2] damage.

[Ichneumon]

{OOC: Guys? Everything okay?]

Str check of Monster: [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Smith smashes in the monster which is thrown back 5 feet. He's body seems to somewhat fall apart, yet it re-assembles itself.

[Grumman]

10 feet, actually. 5 for beating his strength check, and another 5 for beating it by more than 5.

[Ichneumon]

10 feet, actually. 5 for beating his strength check, and another 5 for beating it by more than 5.

Oh, right. sorry. I'll post an updated map today, not now, but later.

[Parlity]

(It's Thudruk's turn? I'm waiting to see what the people with higher initiative do before I take action.)

[Grumman]

(It's Thudruk's turn? I'm waiting to see what the people with higher initiative do before I take action.)
Yes, take your turn. I've already taken mine, and my initiative count was lower than yours. And then we wait and see if the game dies or if the other two guys come back.

[Ichneumon]

Yes, take your turn. I've already taken mine, and my initiative count was lower than yours. And then we wait and see if the game dies or if the other two guys come back.

I'm going to be patient and let them give the time till wednesday to respond. Then I'm going to PM them. If they haven't reacted at all by the end of this week, I'm not sure what we should do.

[Parlity]

Smith's attack jars Kio back into action. He runs after the monster and slashes at it, his blade moving quickly.

Moving closer to the monster and using maneuver shadow blade technique. attack roll 1 [roll0] [roll1]

I assume his attack misses.

[Ichneumon]

I've send a pm to Scotty88. He hasn't been online for more than a week, so maybe he still is interested, but just doesn't have the time to come online. I'll send a pm to SoD now.

I'm pauzing the game for now until we get a reaction, (or none at all).
Would you 2 be still interested in continueing without the others or would you prefer to end it?

[Grumman]

I've send a pm to Scotty88. He hasn't been online for more than a week, so maybe he still is interested, but just doesn't have the time to come online. I'll send a pm to SoD now.

I'm pauzing the game for now until we get a reaction, (or none at all).
Would you 2 be still interested in continueing without the others or would you prefer to end it?
I'll keep playing if Parlity wants to, but losing half our players by the second encounter isn't a good sign.

[Parlity]

I'll continue playing if either of you wants to. Losing players seems typical.

[Scotty88]

sorry guys i have been busy the last week but i am still interested in finishing this story


Veidro moves to the monster slashing at the blob beastial like

Attack:[roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Ichneumon]

Alright, II need to learn for an examination today, but tomorrow I'll make a new update and everything, so we can get this party moving! If SoD hasn't replied than, I'm going to make a move for him/her.

Also, good to have you back Scotty:smallwink:!

[Ichneumon]

Alright, because we had a "break" and a new page, I'll summarize the battle thus far.

Initiative order:
Thudruk, Monster, Kio, Veidro, Smith, Lock

What happened?
1. Thudruk casts Magic Missile at the Monster
2. Monster reacts by casting some kind of consufion spell on Thudruk. Thudruk failed a will save.
3. Kio takes his sword and moves closer to the monster.
4. Smith gives Lock the sunrod. He then casts Bull's Strength on himself.
5. Lock starts singing (no game effects yet... I seem to have forgotten those...)
6. Monster doesn't seem to reactdo anything.
7. Smith Charges at the monster. Monster is hit back 10 feet.
8. Smith tries to attack the monster....
9. Veidro tries to attack the monster...
Updated map:

The map

S,T,K,V: the party
L: Lock, (the warforged NPC)
G: Gibbering mass with mouths and eyes.
C: Shield's body
-,|:wall
.:floor
____________
|..........|
|..........|
...........|
LS...VCK...|
|.T..S..G..|
|..........|
|..........|
|..........|
|..........|
|..........|
___.._______



I'm not sure I did everything correctly, it got a bit messy with all the turns and such, so if I made mistakes please say so. Also, I don't think the battle map will be of much use.

----

The monster, although very alert with all its eyes and such..., didn't see Smith coming and is hit hard by his charge and it seems to disorientate him.
Veidro slashes at his mass, although its skin looks quite fragile, tearing his thin skin is more difficult than it seems and he isn't hurt one bit.
Kio's attack misses too.

Lock's continues humming in a very optimistic tune and it grants you all a +2 bonus on "saving throws against charm and fear effects" and a +2 bonus on "attack and weapon damage rolls"

<Thudruk's turn>

The monster closes all of his eyes and tries to bite at Kio: 1d20+8 If it hits: [roll0]
----

You may all take your turn and if SoD doesn't post tomorrow, I'll make a turn for her.

[Grumman]

Smith grips his warhammer with both hands and charges forwards again.

Power attacking for three.

To hit: [roll0] (+4 str, +2 bardic music, +2 charging, +2 Kio's flanking stance, +1 m'work weapon)
To confirm: [roll1] 20/*3 crit
Damage: [roll2]

Oh, and Kio is healed for 2 points, if I hit.

ETA: So close!

[Parlity]

Kio slashes at the monster again.

attack roll [roll0] +2 from music +2 from flanking stance, to confirm critical [roll1]. Damage [roll2] with +2 from music, sneak attack damage [roll3] Recovering maneuvers.

[Ichneumon]

strangely enough the roll I made for the monsters attack on kio didn't roll. I'll try agian [roll0]
----
Eyes, teeth and flesh crush under Smiths hammer. The aberration seems severely weakened and Kios attack tears the flesh apart, a mixture of black ectoplasm and blood flows from the monster's body.

Alright, Thudruk, having witnessed all of this runs to the monster and tries to hit it with his axe: [roll1]

[Ichneumon]

Thudruk's attack hits, and as it is a critical hit, it does [roll0] x 3 damage.

[Scotty88]

Veidro goes in for another attack


Attack: [roll0]
Damage:[roll1]

[Grumman]

Frustrated by the ooze's tenacity, Smith shouts to the others: "It grows weak, we should finish it now." He then brings his warhammer down on the creature again with another two-handed blow.

Smith uses Leading the Attack and power attacks for 3.

To hit: [roll0]
To confirm: [roll1] 20/*3
To wound: [roll2]

If Smith hits, everyone gets +4 to hit for one round.
His maneuvers reset at the start of next round.

ETA: That's it, I'm getting an Impact weapon ASAP. :smallannoyed:

[Parlity]

"Ungh", Kio grunts as the monster's attack hits him. Dribbling blood from the corner of his mouth, he slashes with his longsword again, his blade flickering.

maneuver shadow blade technique. attack roll 1 [roll0] 7+2(flanking)+2(music) attack roll 2 [roll1], confirm [roll2], damage [roll3], sneak attack [roll4]

[Parlity]

Taking lower attack roll for +1d6 cold damage [roll0]

[Parlity]

cold damage roll [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

[-Alright, I am a bit uncertain about the exact nature of these "confirm roles". Could someone explain their purpose and show me the exact rules about them?]

-I seem to have forgotten that Thudruk was still "confused", when I made his turn last time. Bad DM, Bad DM! As SoD is still not here, I'll make it up by letting him be confused for this turn then, if you all agree....

-----

Veidro's attack hits. The monster seems angered and the monster seems to slowly emulsify, disintegrate into smaller parts. All parts still act as one though and try to attack, but before they can Smiths shouts some frustrated words and tries to hit it with his hammer. Kio's attack hits and seem to "unbalance" the the blob, effect the stability of the membrane. The creature is emulsifying and falling apart, yet still tries to defend itself fiercly.

[Lock continues humming, granting you the same bonus as before.]

Thudruk seems disorientated by what is happening with the creature and doesn't attack.

The creature though, does attack, fighting to the death. It bashes itself against Smith, biting him in many different parts with all of its mouths and trying to devour him. [roll0] If it hits, [roll1]

It's your turns again.

[Grumman]

[-Alright, I am a bit uncertain about the exact nature of these "confirm roles". Could someone explain their purpose and show me the exact rules about them?]
They're rolls to confirm criticals. For instance, if Smith rolls a natural 20 to hit, I need to roll again to see if I actually crit or not. It's easier to just do both at the same time, and ignore it if the first roll wasn't a natural 20.

Rolling for maneuvers again:
Smith's available maneuvers:
{table]1|Charging Minotaur
2|Crusader's Strike
3|Douse the Flames
4|Leading the Attack
5|Vanguard Strike[/table]
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Scotty88]

"just die already" Veidro roars out as he attacks

Attack:[roll0]
Damage:[roll1]

[Grumman]

"Push it back, and I will finish this!"

Power attacking for 3 again, and using Douse the Flames.
Smith gets +1 to hit and wound due to Furious Counterstrike.

To hit: [roll0]
To confirm: [roll1] 20/*3
To wound: [roll2]

Smith heals 2 points of damage if he hits, and the creature cannot make attacks of opportunity for 1 round.

[Parlity]

"Push it back? How?" Kio says as he slashes at the monster.

attack roll [roll0] 7+2(flank)+2(music)+4(Grumman's attack) damage [roll1] +3(strength)+2(music), sneak attack damage [roll2] recovering maneuvers

[Ichneumon]

Sorry guys, I need to write a large paper for uni, so the update will have to wait untill friday. Sorry.:smallannoyed:

[Ichneumon]

With the heroes going for the final blow, the monster is hit and dies.

A strange and uncomfortable silence is interrupted by the stormy winds, and Lock walks to the body of his forged friend, without saying anything, stoops by it, closes his eyes and prays. After a few moments, he stands up and takes off his cloak and uses it to cover the body. All of this with a certain serenity and sincerity in his motions. He looks at all of the party members: 'you're brave souls. We need to end this horror. Veidro, you had questions? It's better to ask them now, before we face another enemy or either one of us dies in battle."

Thudruk walks slowly, unnoticed away from the rest of the party and the warforged bard. He walks to the body of his warforged slave and friend. He doesn't know whether to feel enraged or desperate. While not turning his head, he shouts: "Why did you take them here? "

"Because I wanted to give them something better," Lock replies. "A better life, a life in which they weren't treated like their lives were worth less than those that were naturally born, not made. I wanted to believe I could make such a difference, be a saviour of my people."

[Parlity]

(ooc: Grumman I pmed you)

Panting heavily, Kio cleans off his longsword and sheathes it. He touches his wound, then goes into a series of stretches and exercises.

Using 1 charge from healing belt [roll0] Changing readied maneuvers. Readying Mountain Hammer instead of Sapphire Nightmare Blade.

[Scotty88]

with the monster dead veidro goes back to normal and begins to wipe his sword off. then looks at Lock. "yes you are right. why was it needed to knock Veidro out? What disagreement you have with them?"

[Ichneumon]

Lock looks ashamed and speaks: "I'm sorry Veidro, but we had nothing against you. We had no good reason to attack you, to hurt you, other than that these creatures"... he waves the room back were you all fought the dancers "these creatures convinced us it was for the better."

"You see, we believed we'd be going to the secret warforged settlement, but we knew that as soon as we'd escape the people in the villages might search for us, hunt us down, kill us and everybody who associates with us. Your friends considred you their best friend. They spoke very highly of you. It is rare that warforged find such good friends in people of other races. They knew you'd be loyal to them and not try to bring them back, but we feared you might want to join us when you heard their plans. We also feared what others would do when they found out you were their friend."

For a moment Lock waits, and continues: "We... They didn't want to hurt you, but we had agred to go that night and you weren't about to leave them any time soon. We had spoken of this problem before with each other and the Dancers had convinced us that we had no real choice, but to knock you out unconscious if that would be only way to get out without people knowing. They didn't want you to die or even suffer severely, they only hadn't expected the weather to turn so bad that night. I am deeply sorry. We had no right to do what we did."

[Scotty88]

Veidro holds his head down lettin his dreads fall in front of his face. then he snaps his head back to get his hair back in place. "hmm that truely sounds like them now. Veidro forgives them but now they must in trouble now if they with more those things."

[Ichneumon]

Lock looks relieved to see Veidro has forgiven them. He points at one of the doors, "The pool is that way."

[Grumman]

"If you are ready, we should go find Worker."

Smith opens the indicated door.

[Ichneumon]

Behind the door is a long dark narrow corridor, just big enough for you to walk one behind the other. It's dark and there is a stairs going down. You can't see what is beyond, but you feel a strangely periodic warm wind blowing from beyond.

[Parlity]

"Agreed." Kio draws his longsword and sniffs warily as he enters the narrow corridor.

Switching to stance: hunter's sense.

[Ichneumon]

As you enter the darkness, you can all smell the foul stench of the periodic breezes of wind coming from far.

[OOC]: You should determine the order at which you all walk, so who's first and who's last. You may determine where Thudruk and Lock are.

[Grumman]

[OOC]: You should determine the order at which you all walk, so who's first and who's last. You may determine where Thudruk and Lock are.

Smith is the least maneuverable, so he will walk at the back of the melee characters. I assume Lock would walk behind him.

[Scotty88]

Thinking it would be best Veidro enters right after Kio weapon out and ready

[Ichneumon]

You all enter and go down the stairs into the dark corridor. It's dark, and the air is moisty. Minutes turn into hours as you descend deeper and deeper into the hill. Sometimes you encounter rats, but they are not hostile, in fact they seem frightened of something. The more you descend, the more a strong smell of sweat and terribly bad breath starts to dominate the area. Breathing becomes somewhat difficult and the smell hurts the eyes, it burns. It also becomes more and more hotter.

Eventually you see light at the end of the tunnel and begin hearing sounds of voices, singing. You all slow down your speed and prepare for what lies ahead.

The tunnel ends in a big hall, with an extremely high ceiling, only supported by 4 thin pillars. In the middle of the hall is a big black pool. The liquid is so black that it's impossible to guess how deep the pool actually is or what is below its surface.

Bathing in the pool is a large, extremely large giant, his head reaches the ceiling of the hall. Only his torso and upper body is visible, the rest lies, presumably, below the water's surface. His chest is broad, well muscled, and hairy. Under the brown hairs, that seem to cover most of his body, are a large number of scars. His face on the other hand looks very attractive, young and feminine, sleek and tender. No facial hair like a beard or mustache, but very thick eyebrows. The giant has his eyes closed, breathing deep and slowly, as if in some kind of trance.

Around the pool and the giant are six dancers, cloaked in dark hooded cloaks, dancing and singing. The language is unknown to you all, but you all experience it to be unnerving. The only word you recognise is "Paimon". The dancers seem so focussed in their ritual that they don't notice you.

At the other side of the pool, you can see 3 warforged, tight together with a piece of rope, sitting on the ground. A bag is over their head. They don't seem to move a lot, but they do seem alive.

[Parlity]

Kio plays with his belt. Using charge 2 of 3 to heal [roll0]. He glances at Smith and Veidro. He quietly points at himself and then the warforged and walks two fingers towards them.

[Grumman]

Smith nods in acknowledgement. If the dancers had not been alerted to their presence, it was best that they keep it that way.

[Scotty88]

the gestures Kio displayed left Veidro slightly confused. But he do know that staying hidden would be best right now

[Parlity]

Kio creeps carefully around the pool at half speed, trying to get to the warforged without being seen or heard by the dancers and the giant.

hide [roll0] (armor check -2, hide skill +4)
move silently [roll1] (armor check -2, skill +7)

He has his longsword drawn and keeps a wary eye and nose on the dancers and giant.

[Ichneumon]

[OOC: okay, I decided to draw the situation instead of given a grid ASCII map, as I wanted it to be as clear as possible. I'll give an ASCII map as soon as you feel it is needed. You may assume you can walk around the giant and get to the warforged in like 2 rounds.]

Map
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6952/giantpaimonbirth.png
Okay, so you are on the right, the six dancers are below, the giant in the pool, the 3 warforged on the left. The four pillars are the circles. Yes, it's not entirely on the right scale. (Inside the corridor is enough darkness that the dancers will likely not see you, even though it looks rather close)

---
Kio manages to get sneak behind the pillar (right-above). However he hurries so much that a part of his armor clashes against the pillar and makes a hard noice. Three dancers have heard the sound and stop dancing and singing. They don't see Kio though. After a few seconds of looking where the sound could have come from, they continue with their bussiness.

EDIT: Also, because of the holidays coming up, I'd like to know now if people are planning on not being able to post for more than 2-3 days.

[Parlity]

Kio glances back at the corridor. He continues to sneak to the warforged.

hide [roll0]
move silently [roll1]

(ooc: I can continue posting as usual.)

[Ichneumon]

Although he makes no sound whatsoever, one of the Dancers does notice him. The dancer jumps up, discards of his cloak and jumps towards Kio. Two others stop singing and silently observe Kio.

"What are you doing here, human? Kneel before the great Paimon!"

[Parlity]

Kio sprints to the warforged. "Worker! It's Kio!" he says as he reaches them. He tries to cut through the rope tying the warforged with his longsword.

[Grumman]

Maneuvers:
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Ichneumon]

The rope easily breaks. The warforged feel it and jump up. They reach for the bag over their heads and release it. One of them shouts, happily surpriced: "Master Kio!?"

The dancer seems surpriced as well: "Oh you came for the warforged? Well, you may have them, we don't need them any more."

[Parlity]

"Worker!" Kio whips around to look at the dancer. "Let's get out of here," he says, looking at the corridor. He will follow the warforged if they move to the corridor and guard their retreat.

[Scotty88]

after the events that happened Veidro runs out to assist Kio

[Ichneumon]

The warforged follow Kio, they want to get out. Strangely, the dancers seem to ignore Veidro, Kio or the others completely, just dancing and singing.

[Parlity]

Kio glances at Veidro gratefully. In the safety of the corridor, Kio turns to face the dancers and the giant with his longsword drawn. He calls out behind him, "Worker, are you injured?"

[Ichneumon]

"Hurt?" Worker looks confused, he didn't expect that question. "Hurt? Yes, I'm hurt. What they did to me... was physically and mentally a hell. It was terrible. With how many of you are you here? Are you armed? If so, I want to pay for what they did."

[Scotty88]

Still facing the giant and dancers Veidro calls out. "three more of us still inside the corridor"

hey DM check the OCC for more on my character

[Ichneumon]

The two other warforged, recognise Veidro. They are Tundra and Forest. One of them begins talking "Veidro, I'm sorry about what happened..." but is soon interupted by the ground shaking heavily. Bits of rock start falling down from the ceiling. The four thin pillars are visibly "suffering" having to support the entire ceiling. The dancers look freightened and start running around the giant, trying to make sure he is okay.

Some of the larger rocks from the ceiling start to fall down and hit the giant. Reacting to that he starts to moan and wakes up. The first seconds after opening his eyes he looks terrified, yet when he realises where he is, he looks happy. A deep powerful voice, yet feminine in nature, the giant speaks "I am free" His voice makes the air tremble. Awakened the giant starts to move around in the pool, causing waves of the poisonous water to clash against each other and sometimes out of the pool. "Hahahahaha! I am free! Paimon is free again" The giant seems enthousiastic and starts to dance inside the pool. The dancers, while happy about their Lord's awakening, try to calm him down, obviously the trembling and shaking of the ground has unnerved them.