(D&D 3.5) The Tale of Charerilik

[Goglas]

Charerilik (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=359081), Hero Extrodinaire!

If you want me to create an OOC thread, say so. Otherwise, we can simply have our OOC talk here.

Big opening post.

------------------------------------------

England, 1456,
The town of Haxby
Town-hall

THIS IS THE tale of Charerilik, a hero like no other. It begins, as such stories usually do, in a town-wide panic over a few dead bodies.

"This can't go on!" said one.
"This is outrageous!" said the other.
"You must do something to stop these murderers!"

The chairman of the town council, a plump, short man with a small mustache, has had the same tired, frightened look on his face for the last hour and a half.
Whether it was because they were angry, or afraid, or indeed, both, all the town have now gathered in the town hall. They have been screaming at him, the poor chairman, in turns, all through the morning and the entire night before.

He raised his hands and dropped his head, then gave out a long, heavy sigh. "Listen, listen, I know you're scared, but screaming at me isn't going to help. Now I've already called for a Hero to come to our aid, and he promised he would take care of the situation."

"One Hero?" they cried out, "Against them?"
"You're insane, old man," said one, "no-one alone can stand against The Children. Hanzel alone will..."
"Shhh! Don't mention them by name, or they'll come here and kill us all," said another.
The entire hall fell silent. One thought occupied their minds.
Will one Hero truly be able to defeat The Children of Haxby?

***

The Dead Forest, a day's walk east of Haxby, Midday

Charerilik stood in front of a lone gate in the middle of the forest. It seemed out of place, bars of black iron in the midst of all that green. The earth beneath the Hero's feet was brown and soft, and the Oaks and Elms and Pines were blooming, all covered in leaves.
The Dead Forest proved to be far more hospitable than our Hero expected.
"Walk through the gate," said the old man to him, "and save us from our curse!"

And so our hero did.
Day turned to night in an instant. The moon replaced the sun. The earth turned to grey and filled with dry ash. The few trees he could still see were dead and broken.

In front of him he saw a small stone bridge, littered with bones and blades, and beyond - a castle. On the other side were two small kids and a very big dog. A strange dog, with razor-sharp teeth, a hairless tail and big red eyes. The beast looked at our hero and barked, causing the two kids to turn around and face the hero.

The Children were dressed in black and covered in blood; one carried an axe, and the other a bag.

The kids pointed at the tall hero and grinned. The boy said, "Mama, papa, a strange man at the gate is trying to get in!"
The girl hid behind the boy and continued to laugh.

The bones began to stir, the blades began to move; The children, it seemed, had no intention of letting the man in.

------------------------------

No battle has yet to begin, but roll Initiative anyway. The "kids" and the "dog" don't seem to have any intention of attacking you at the moment.

Map (I am a master painter, as you can see):
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac94/Goglas/CastleEntrance.jpg

[KingOfLaughter]

Char cracks his neck a little bit and sighs, thinking to himself "This is NOT what I expected... Either way I have a job to do..." Char steps forward, hand on his blade.

---------------
I'm fine with doing OoC in here, and you're a better painter than I. Also, these kids remind a tad bit of little sisters from bioshock. :P

Init
[roll0]

[Goglas]

Holy cow, down to page 3 in one day!
-------------

As soon as you step forward onto the bridge, one of the blades near your feet springs to life and shoots upwards. The kids cheer and lick their deathly white lips.

Hand on your blade, ready for battle, you see some of the bones on the bridge pile up, moved by some mysterious force, and coalesce into three skeletons of vaguely humanoid forms.

The one closest to you (10 feet - so you need to move 5 to get to it) carries a short sword, and another behind (20 feet from you) carries a scimitar. The last one, to the left of the latter, tries to pick up a blade, but its clawed hands are ill suited to the task.


Blade attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Initiative:
Short sword skeleton: [roll2]
Scimitar skeleton: [roll3]
Clawed skeleton: [roll4]

[Goglas]

The Short Sword Skeleton, bones rattling and barely in place, moves forward and attacks. The scimitar skeleton moves forward 10 feet, while the clawed one is still preoccupied with picking up its sword.

"Silly creatures..." says the little girl. "You'd think papa would bother to put something a bit stronger to guard the bridge, right, stranger? But nooo...He's too busy with that other girl."

"Don't worry, sister," says the boy and smiles widely, revealing his fangs. "Papa may be busy, but now we've got this one to play with..."


Skeleton (let's call him Skeleton 1) attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[KingOfLaughter]

The first blade misses Char by a bit, but still surprises him, however he goes in to combat mode the second the skeletons blade bounces off his armor.

He turns and swings, bringing his sword about to hit the skeleton.

(Using 8 mastery points)
To hit
[roll0]
Dam
[roll1]
Crit
[roll2]
Crit dam
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Goglas]

You bring your great-sword horizontally against the first skeleton's skull, splitting it in two. The bones immediately turn to dust and the creature's sword clatters to the floor.

The second skeleton moves forward, stepping on the dust of his comrade, and swings his blade. After watching the clawed skeleton in amusement for a few moments, the boy clicks his fingers. The creature stands straight, without its weapon, and charges at you.


Scimitar attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Charging claw attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

Edit: Forgot to add charging bonus, but it wouldn't hit you anyway.

[KingOfLaughter]

Char side steps the scimitar, and easily dodges the charge, and than brings his sword around at the skeleton still carrying a weapon.

(Using 4 mastery points)
Attack
[roll0]
Dam
[roll1]
Crit
[roll2]
Crit dam
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Goglas]

These skeletons are no match for the great warrior, yet the kids' faces only seem happier as every moment goes by. Their beast, however, is growling and looking intently at the warrior, ready to pounce him. A quick slap on the nose from the girl stops it, however.

"No, Fluffy, bad dog! Sit!"

The beast whimpers and lays on the floor, putting its large paws over its snout. "Good dog," The girl says and laughs. A loud cracking sounds brings her attention back to our hero.

Your sword slices through another skeleton, and its bones turn to dust, just like before.
The last skeleton remaining attacks again with both its hands, trying to claw its way past your armor and into the soft flesh within.


Full attack, 2 claws:
Attack 1: [roll0]
Attack 2: [roll1]

Damage 1: [roll2]
Damage 2: [roll3]

[KingOfLaughter]

The skeletons claws rake down the front of Chars armor, "That's going to take forever to clean out... Dammit.."

He then arcs his sword at the remaining skeleton.
Atk (8 mastery points, these things are helpful, considering my rolls...)
[roll0]
dam
[roll1]
Crit
[roll2]
Dam
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Goglas]

The last skeleton turns into dust, clearing the way across the bone-filled bridge. Yet the kids seem undaunted.

"Hardly a scratch on you, intruder," says the boy. "That was most entertaining. But then again, fighting against the bones of all the other would-be heroes isn't much of a challenge, now is it?"

The boy lifts his axe and points it at you. "Why don't you come here and see what killed them all?"

----------------------

That's 300 XP for the three skeletons.

[KingOfLaughter]

Char turns to see if the man is still behind the gate, than turns back to the kids.

"You know, we don't have to fight. Mayhap we can come to an agreement?" Char stands straight, trying to look as un-intimidating as possible.

[Goglas]

Beyond the gate is nothing but darkness.

The children laugh. "Don't have to fight?" the boy says. "This isn't fighting, this is playing.
"Papa," he calls out, and a blade from the floor rises up and floats in the air.
"Kill him, papa!"


Blade attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[KingOfLaughter]

Char blocks the blade easily.

"That's how it's got to be than? Shame, I find you all quite interesting."

He then swings around where the blade is hovering.

Atk
[roll0]
Dam
[roll1]
Crit
[roll2]
Dam
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Goglas]

As soon as your sword hits the blade, it bursts in a cloud of dust.

"This is ridiculous," says the boy. "Nothing gets past his armor."
"I know how we can fix that, brother" says the girl, a wicked smile spreading across her lips. "Come on, Fluffy. Follow me!"

The girl starts running towards the castle, the beast behind her. The boy stands at the end of the bridge for a moment longer, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Oh well, you win this round. Here's your prize." The boy taps the floor with his axe, and the bridge and the gate behind you begin to shake. He chuckles and runs after his sister.

-------------

The bridge is shaking, and you're pretty sure it's not going to remain intact for much longer. You can use the Balance or Jump skill, or both.
Note that if you don't manage to get across, you will fall into a bottomless dark pit.

[KingOfLaughter]

Char curses under his breath, than attempts to leap to safety.

Jump
[roll0]
Balance
[roll1]

[Goglas]

Taking two great strides before the stones fall beneath your feet, you jump and barely reach the end of the bridge. However, you are unable to gain a strong footing, and fall down, but manage to grab hold of the edge just in time.

Make a Climb check.

[KingOfLaughter]

Grabbing the edge Char curses himself rather loudly, than attempts to pull himself up.

Climb Check
[roll0]

-------
Forgot about the armor penalty on the jump check. Added it this time.

Edit: Wow... Stupid dice.... :smalltongue:

[Goglas]

Hehe, this is the first time I ever see someone get a 0.
Anyhow,

The second you try to pull yourself up your strength fails you, your fingers slip, and you fall into the darkness.

It surrounds you, engulfs you in moving shadows. The moonlight disappears, and you can't even see your own hands.
Suddenly, you feel the ground beneath you. You didn't crash, you didn't get hurt, but somehow, you knew you were somewhere else. Standing on all fours, and still unable to see anything, you hear a voice.

"Help...me...HELP...me..."
It's little more than a whisper, barely audible, and its source is clearly in pain. Yet what struck you the most was not the words, but that they were said in the tongue of Orcs.

[KingOfLaughter]

Same... Wasn't sure it was even possible...

----------
Char stands and draws his torch, which lights immediately, than places it on his belt. Drawing his sword he calls out, "Where are you?"

[Goglas]

The torch lit, you find yourself in a small cell, its stone walls dank and moldy and its gate and bars - which stand for the southern wall - rusty and wet. Small drops of water trace their way along the ceiling and fall on a small pile of garbage in the north-east corner of your cell.

On the other side of the bars you see a corridor, as damp and dark as your cell. You see a large table there. A long wool blanket rests on top, covering somethings unknown. What draws your attention most are the stains of blood visible on both the blanket and the table. And not just red blood, but black and green as well.

The origin of the voice you find through a small barred window in your cell, revealing to you another room to your east. A lone figure sits there on a sturdy, bloodied wooden chair. This Orc had clearly been tortured; He's naked, his arms and legs bound to the chair with small, spiky steel chains, his body covered in gashes and his face battered and broken.

"Here...Help...me..." he says, his bloodshot eyes drawn to the light of your torch. "Help...me.."

[KingOfLaughter]

Char walks to the gate, and attempts to bash it down, hoping it will lead him to the injured man.

Strength Check
[roll0]

[Goglas]

Just to make sure you get the layout of the place - going through your cell door leads to the corridor - not the Orc's cell.

Any rate, you fail to bash the door open. Note that you can, if you wish, take a 20, I.E. spend two minutes on it.



[roll0]
-Totally unrelated roll, for future events.