A Dark and Stormy Knight [IC]

[Niezck]

The storm thrashes the countryside as you come from all around, seeking shelter from the tor.

The massive tor towers above the surrounding country. A few narrow ledges offer scant protection from the elements, but a closer inspection reveals a massive, arched entryway at least 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide, set into the side of the hill. The ground just outside slopes away from the doorway, directing the falling water out and away. Given this fact and the sturdy nature of the hill, whatever space lies beyond the door should be both dry and safe from lightning and hail. The construction seems quite sturdy, so the likelihood of collapse, even in severe conditions such as these, is remote.

DC 12 Search/Knowledge Architecture/Dwarf Stonecunning

This is indeed a very, very sturdy entryway and will easily survive this storm.

DC 15 Spot

The broken remains of an immense, round stone lie scattered around the entrance. It appears to have been recently destroyed, presumably by lightning.

[Volthawk]

Arcean sighs as he gets into the cover. Well, this isn't good. At least this door looks promising. He then walks over to the door and examines it, for now focusing more on getting into proper cover rather than paying attention to the others.


Spot: [roll0]
Search: [roll1]
Know (architecture): [roll2]

[kamikasei]

Kyra jogs towards the tor, cursing the optimism that made her decide to walk to her destination rather than wait for a caravan or even a cart passing that way. Of course, if she'd had the sense to anticipate the worst she'd probably have had the wherewithal to see the storm brewing sooner so she needn't have been so thoroughly caught in it...

For now her cloak is keeping her from being entirely soaked, but that can't last long, and she laughs with relief when she sees that there's an entrance in to the tor. The remnants of what must have been its door until recently draw a raised eyebrow, but aside from possible mustiness, that just means there aren't likely to be a family of bears already claiming whatever shelter is inside... right?

Once in the doorway she shucks off her cloak quickly and holds it out, dripping, at arm's length... left arm's length, of course, leaving her right free to draw Talon. She makes no move to do so yet, though, letting her eyes adjust as she advances in to the tor. If she's not the first to seek shelter here, she needs to be careful not to startle whoever's already arrived...
Are we arriving separately or together?

[roll0]
[roll1]

[mootoall]

Search (W/Dwarven Stonecunning): [roll0]
Spot: [roll1]

Gordon's ascent to the tor on the hill is accompanied by a massive crack of thunder and flash of lightning, and he rushes past the human reaching her arm into the darkness with abandon. As he enters the darkness his darkvision kicks in, revealing the elf within to his sight. Shaking the rain from his hair and beard, he utters, in the unmistakably gruff voice of a dwarf, "Stormpeace! Stormpeace! Blast th' rain, it only figgers I'd get caught in it now."

He backs against the inside of the archway and rings his beard out, keeping a wary eye on the two who have arrived before him.


Checks for Surgical Precision, not that I intend to use it :smallwink:

Know (Local) [roll2]
Know (Local) [roll3]

[Volthawk]

Arcean steps inside the archway, glad for the cover. He then turns to the other two with him. "Well, this place is good enough for cover. Whoever built it made it well. Better step away from the door, though. Looks like the storm got it. Name's Arcean."

[mootoall]

"Yes, elf, y'd have ta be blind ta miss th' broken stone. 'Course, yer only a bit better th'n humans at seein' in th' dark."

Woo hoo, dwarven accents and racism!

[kamikasei]

"Stormpeace," Kyra agrees, removing her hand from her sword hilt where it had shot at the dwarf's entrance. Instead she jabs a thumb at herself.

"Kyra. With the Red Hawks." Stormpeace is all well and good, but it ends with the storm, and knowing you have backing deters many with basic foresight from starting anything unnecessary. And hey, maybe one of these will be going her way once the weather clears and will pay to have a sword arm accompanying them. Maybe.

The others see a muscular young human woman with an untidy mop of brown hair and a long sword at her hip, clad in a mail hauberk over a dark red doublet and black wool trousers. Her affiliation is clear enough from the brooch on her cloak and the device on her shield, even before she announces it.

She takes the elf's advice and moves further in, shaking out her cloak - careful not to spray the others - while they're still on the wet floor. "Either of you able to see in that?" she gestures towards the gloom. No sense wasting a sunrod if they might be able to find any other source of light.

[mootoall]

"Jus' like I said, eh? Dark blind. Th' name's Gordon, an' I can see jes' fine thank y' very much." He also steps closer inside, and busies himself looking around, enjoying the fact that he could see better than either of them in the darkness.

Spot, I suppose, to see what's inside? [roll0]
Or Search, if it's necessary: [roll1], +2 more if it has to do with stone.

[Shade Kerrin]

Hadria was not particularly close to the shelter, which is obvious as she pants from exertion when she finally reaches it. It takes several seconds before she even realizes she is not alone. St...st....storm...peace?
Hadriia appears to be, for the most part, a healthy woman, with a medium-length mop of drenched red hair. If there is enough light it can be seen that her eyes are a grey color, though they occasionally flash green for a split second. She seems to be resting most of her weight on a sturdy looking quaterstaff, and is still working on getting her breath back

[mootoall]

"Agreed. 'Tis a nice'n though. I reckon I've never seen one this big!"

Come to think of it, untrained knowledge (History) to see if I remember when the last one was. I think I should know if there'd been one in my lifetime, at least. [roll0]

[Shade Kerrin]

"....Yeah....Would havve preferred it a few weeks ago when I could have made use of it, though. Not a cloud in the sky, then."

This is Hadria's first time meeting a dwarf, but as usual thoughts of her research have managed to take precedence over practical suspicion. She can't even see him that well, he really just looks like a short bearded human right now.

[mootoall]

"Well, can't wait fer it ta go away. I need ta get down South soon as dwarvenly possible."

[Shade Kerrin]

"Dw...? Oh, right...Well I don't see any other options presenting themselves, unless that door leads to a tunnel of some sort.

[abadguy]

".... dingbats and blasted worms of the underdark, I do hate the rain! Accursed weather!" Neal runs cursing and swearing into the shelter of the Tor, not caring if it were really stable or not. Death was preferably to a soggy 3 mile trek back his master's abode.

He was surprised to see so many others gathered here. The whisper gnome gathered his wet traveling cloak about himself. "Oh hullo there. Name's Neal. Terrible weather eh? Anyone got any hot tea?"

[kamikasei]

Oh good, another human. Kyra doesn't really expect the others present to break Stormpeace, but it never hurts to have numbers on your side.

"No tea, but a fire wouldn't be bad if anyone's got fuel for it," Kyra suggests. "If there's any sort of chimney we might even be able to light it further in without smoking ourselves out. Anyway, better see what the rest of this place is like, hadn't we? If something fanged and nasty got here before us I'd rather find out now than when I'm trying to sleep."

She unhooks a sunrod from her belt and lights it, holding it in her left hand along with her cloak, right still kept free. Trusting that the others will have sense enough to follow, she advances in to the hill, looking to see what the light reveals.

[mootoall]

"Hmph, I'd rather not find out about somethin' fanged 'n' nasty at all. But yer right, much as I hate ta admit it. Might as well carry on."

Gordon follows beside the human, her eyes open for whatever might be approaching beyond the illumination of the sunrod.

Rules query: does Darkvision see 60' from the dwarf, or 60' from the start of the darkness?

[Niezck]

With the illumination of the sunrod, you can now see into the first chamber.

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 now only dust remains. Three massive stone doors--one each to the left and right, and one directly across from the entrance--lead deeper into the tor.


60' from the start of the dwarf.

[kamikasei]

"Hmmm." Kyra pokes at the middle door with the sunrod, not trying too hard to open it but checking that nothing tries to lop it off. Assuming the sunrod survives, she tests the give of the door with her hand. Does it open towards them, or away from them? Are there any locks or beams on this side to indicate how it's secured? If it opens in such a way that they can bar it, that won't be so bad.

"So I guess this place used to be a bigger deal than those ruins suggest?" she observes. "Anyone else ever heard of it?"

[mootoall]

Gordon lets out a low whistle, and his dwarven appreciation for good architecture kicks in. "Nicer accomodations than I 'xpected. Storm doesn't look like it's gonna let up fer a while- we might as well see what this place is about." He walks over to the nearest door and starts examining it, taking in the stonework. Search w/Stonecunning! I like this adventure :smalltongue: [roll0]

[Volthawk]

"That sounds like a good idea. Might be something interesting around here"

Arcean walks to the door on the opposite side to the dwarf, and examines that one too.


Right, rolls:
Search: [roll0]
Knowledge (local): [roll1] (same purpose as Kami)
Knowledge (history): [roll2] (about the tor)
Knowledge (architecture & engineering): [roll3]

[abadguy]

Neal simply looks at the strange menagerie of humanoids clustered here seeking shelter from the storm but poking about dangerous looking entrances. He remains steadfastly non-contributory to the mucking about and as close to the entrance as possible.

As the others look around, he can't help but examines the tor as well. Somehow this particular hunk of rock jogs his memory ... something in a book he read while trying to cure insomnia...

((Knowledge history check in OOC))

[Shade Kerrin]

Hadria stands to the back, trying to keep out of the way. Her vision was never spectacular, and she's still trying to get used to her new way of seeing things. On the other hand, she's suffered enough unexpected explosions to more or less recognize the setup to one by now, so she furtively glances around for anything that might have negative side effects to the others.

Search: [roll0], Trapfinding if relevant.

[Niezck]

As you each search the room, the tor begins to shake noticably as lightning bolts strike the top of it. The phrase 'lightning never strikes the same place twice', it seems, does not apply.

While the roof seems solid and secure, the doors are banging against their frames with a great cacophony.

Clearly, the storm is getting no better.

[mootoall]

"I reckon gettin' in deeper might be a good idea. Safety in stone, an' all that. Doors're barred from th' other side though- How d'you reckon we should pass through?"

[kamikasei]

"If anyone has a crowbar, we could try breaking one of the doors open." Kyra eyes the middle door speculatively, since looking at the others, "we" probably means "she". "Or with something good and heavy, try smashing them. If the doors are barred, like as not whoever barred them had another way out. Might have been another exit on to the tor, though, if there are no crawlspaces or passages here besides the doors themselves." It's possible the barring had been accomplished by some ingenious mechanism that could be operated from this side of the doors. It's also possible they were barred by wacko priests of some weird god who'd stayed on the other side and cut their own throats or just starved to death once they'd locked themselves in. But there's no point borrowing trouble...

[Volthawk]

"Yeah, looks like breaking it open is our best bet...if that doesn't work, I suppose we could try to set the door on fire..."

[kamikasei]

"...they're stone."

[mootoall]

"Well, some kindsa stone c'n burn. This can't though. Anyway, I reckon we c'n bust th' door down if we all push togeth'r."

[kamikasei]

"Can't hurt to try. Okay then, crowd round and push when I say." Kyra braces a shoulder against the door and waits for the others to get in to position. "Three... two... one... push!"
Suggest designating Kyra the primary and others providing aid. [roll0]

[mootoall]

"Now see, tha's not how y'do it. Y'gotta brace yerself hard against th' floor, an' use yer legs ta push." Gordon carefully positions himself at an angle to the door, then pushes with all his might. Taking 20 on my Str check!

[abadguy]

Oh ... this place ... it is a tomb for hobgoblin war dead. I'm guessing lots of loot inside, no wonder it is hard to open.

He looks about the "doors", seeing if he knows of a better way of opening them instead of pure brute force

Knowledge (dungeoneering) [roll0]
Knowledge (geography) [roll1]

[kamikasei]

Kyra keeps herself from grumbling and simply resumes pushing, placing her feet more carefully this time so they don't slip on the dusty floor.
Joining in taking 20, I guess.

[Volthawk]

Arcean joins in the pushing. "Hey, that's great and all, but could you help get this open?"


Joining in taking 20.

[Shade Kerrin]

Hadria slips almost into a daze as she looks around at the place, but shakes herself awake when everyone starts trying to force a door. Not really having any tools for a better alternative, she joins in the efforts.

Join in taking 20

[Niezck]

As the group presses against the cold, hard stone of the doors the pace of the lightning increases. Though little headway seems to be made in your attempts to open them, a bolt of lightning coincides with one particularly strong push and all three doors simultaneously swing open.

[kamikasei]

"Whup." Kyra catches herself and, a split second thereafter, the person looking most off balance at the opening of the door.

"Huh. That's... odd. Don't think I'd like to leave one of those doors unsecured at our backs." Kyra peers past the middle door, trying to gauge the extent of whatever's beyond. Meanwhile she also tries to recall the size of the tor and how much room there is in the direction of each door. Which is likely to have the most potential surprises behind it?

[Shade Kerrin]

Hadria collapses with the door, unable to keep her balance. Fortunately, her staff remains in reach, and she uses it to pull herself back up.
"That...I don't think that was us. There's probably someone else in here somewhere."

[mootoall]

Gordon, feeling the stone's weight shift, managed to keep his balance because of his innate Dwarven stability. "Now there's no reason ta think there's someone in here with us. We just used some Dwarven ingenuity ta move something heavy! it's what we do." To prove it, he walks to the end of the sunrod's illumination, and peers out into the darkness using his darkvision.

[Niezck]

As the lightning continues to strike the ground above, shaking the tor as it does, the entry chamber you're in begins to fill with squeaking and scratching sounds.

Being the further in, Gordon sees them first - a pack of rats swarming and darting toward you all, gnashing their teeth and looking generally quite distressed.


Roll initiative!

[roll0] for the rats.

[kamikasei]

Kyra swears and draws Talon, waiting for the rats to come within reach before dropping the light and slashing two-handed at them.
[roll0]
Move action to draw sword.
Free action to drop the sunrod.
Standard action to ready steel wind on the first pair of rats to come within her reach. [roll1], [roll2], [roll3], [roll4]

[Volthawk]

Arcean draws his bow, firing at one of the rats.


Initiative: [roll0]

Move action to draw bow, then firing (my Favoured Enemy (Animals) adding damage).

Attack roll: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[Shade Kerrin]

Hadria doesn't like rats. Always chewing on her notes and components. Holding her staff in front of her, she commences spinning it as she limps towards the little critters, hoping to maim as many as possible.


init:[roll0]
Attacking as a two-hander:[roll1], [roll2] Bludgeoning

[abadguy]

"Ugh ... always so many critters about." Seeing the rest charge in like gangbusters, swords waving, Neal draws his club and hangs back instead.

Actions:
Init [roll0]

Draw Club
Ready action to attack if any hostiles get within melee range
Attack [roll1]
Dmg [roll2]

[Niezck]

As the filthy, stinking rats surge forwards, Kyra takes two impressive swings at the first two to enter her reach, slaying them instantly with masterful strikes.

The vermin, not disheartened by the felling of their comrades, swarm toward the group and try to take chunks out of ankles and feet wherever possible.


Map:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g318/niezck/DaSK1.png

Initiative:
24 - Kyra
21 - Hadria
17 - Rats
16 - Gordon
7 - Arcean
4 - Neal

Attacks of opportunity from all four of you please, the two rats that would have been in Hadria's square were killed by Kyra in the first round. If anybody has any problem with where they've been placed, speak now or forever hold your peace :smallwink:

(Of note, I put Neal at the back as he wasn't involved in the pushing effort.)

After the AoOs, it is Hadria's turn, as your action was relatively vague (and my apologies for not posting a map sooner) it's up to you to decide which rat you attack.

[kamikasei]

Kyra stabs at another rat as it passes her.
[roll0], [roll1]
I thought Gordon moved past the door, and Kyra moved part of the way after him - did the rats show up before we had the chance to take that movement? Other than that, no complaints about positioning.

[Shade Kerrin]

Once she closes in, Hadria commences swinging the tips of her staff at rats, this one, and this one, and this one too.
OOC: Sorry, never dealt with rats as separate entities before.

2Hing the staff for the AoO, 2WFing it for my round. Order of priorities is the rats in Kyra's square, followed by the ones in Arcean.
AoO:[roll0],[roll1]
A1:[roll2],[roll3]
A2:[roll4],[roll5]

[mootoall]

"Hrmph. Vermin. Small, usually harmless, but annoying in large numbers." Gordon takes a big step to his left, opens his mouth, and fires a large bolt of lightning at the rat closest to him.

"They're delicious when cooked right though!"

Attaaaaaack! [roll0] [roll1] Last die is precision damage. Swift action Knowledge check on the rat next to it. [roll2]

[Volthawk]

As a rat gets close to him, Arcean kicks out at it.


Using an Unarmed Strike.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] nonlethal

[Niezck]

With swings of weapons and whacks of fists, two more rats are slain. Gordon manages to take one out with his lightning bolt, slightly unnerving the other rats as to its origin. Hadria finishes one of the rats attempting to attack Arcean before it manages to get a bite in.

No longer at immediate risk, the rats lash out at the ankles and feet of those they can. The two beneath Kyra work together to get a sizable chunk out of her boot, leaving a bleeding wound behind. The rat beneath Gordon manages to nip his ankle in a particularly nasty way, leaving a bleeding graze. Finally, the rat beneath Arcean attempts a daring jump to reach the elf's calf but falls short, missing entirely.


[roll0]

2 damage to Kyra, 1 damage to Gordon.

It is Gordon's turn.

[mootoall]

Gordon, taking a skip back from the nipping rat, spits another burst of lightning at the rat. Knowledge [roll0] Attack [roll1] Damage [roll2]

[kamikasei]

Kyra kicks away the rats biting at her and, focusing on one of them, shuffles back to the side of the door, bringing Talon down to bisect the filthy creature.
5-foot step to C1. Choosing one rat and using Sapphire Nightmare Blade on it.
[roll0]
[roll1] (vs flat-footed if check succeeds, -2 otherwise)
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Shade Kerrin]

Hadria continues to spin her staff, aiming to hit rats with both ends of the weapon.
2WFing, I don't have any targetting in mind, just allocate to whatever's still alive(unless that's only allies, of course)
[roll0],[roll1]
[roll2],[roll3]