[PF] A Knife in the Dark IC

[Jormengand]

You enter the academy, restless and hopeful. Let's see how long that lasts. As you walk through, you observe the great stone arches, the polished marble floor... everything is completely overdone. The guildmaster, an old man, stands up to greet you, and an irate young man who had - one can only assume - been speaking with the guildmaster now turns around.

"Greetings," intones the elaborately clad guildmaster, a human of advancing years, as you step up. "Welcome to the adventuring academy of Gal-Elyna. Were you looking to join?" The younger man next to him retreats enough to make it clear that you are not supposed to speak with him, while staying in the area.

[oyzar]

A slender small gnome enters the building. He is dressed in tight fitting leather pants with a leather jacket on top. Both are dyed blue and match perfectly with his shoulderlength blue hair framing his unblemished slender face. He looks quickly around at the surrounding lavish conditions while walking steady and surely up the the guild master. The gnome bows to introduce himself.

"Good day to you sir." The gnome says after straightening. "I am Cerin Mistyhair and it is a pleasure to meet you. I am indeed looking to join the Academy of Gal-Elyna. Would you be so kind as to tell me how to join the guild or to point me in the direction where i might direct my inquiry?"

[HopeHubris]

Artuk enters the academy, his scale armour rustling lightly, glances quickly around, paying more attention to the placement of guards and defensibility of the structure than the elaborate design of the building.

"Aye, by Gorum, why else would be be here?" says, rather irritated

Foolish humans, get to the point

[Linguz]

Tiknam, in his utility-based clothing, walks into the building in his human form. He has brilliant blue eyes and an pale mess of hair. He is disinterested in what the guild has for decoration, as he doesn't plan on doing anything to them, so he keeps his gaze set on the old man. "Good day, the name's Tiknam. I am also interested in joining, if you don't mind."

[AttilaTheGeek]

Kigaltan stands outside, wearing a traveler's jacket with dozens of pockets and simple, worn pants. He observes the ostentatious architecture for a moment and rolls his eyes before walking in. Once inside, he gives the hobgoblin a glance and smiles. "So I am in the right place, then! Name's Kigaltan- nice to meet ya!" Turning to the older man, he continues."Got any spots in the guild left for me?"

[Chained Birds]

Arthar Kuri

A tall human garbed in common clothing over a studded leather vest walks into the academy. Holding a book to his face (it seems to be a book on geography though probably just something basic), the man has a very casual demeanor. The only items that distinguish him from other humans are the large backpack strung to his back holding who knows what, and an assortment of different weapons hanging from his sides and strapped to his pack.

The blue-eyed and gruffly-haired man scratches his head as he removes his literature from his face to greet the old man.

"Kuri, Arthar Kuri. It is a pleasure to meet you sir; and yes, I too wish to join your establishment. Perhaps even excel here better than anyone else."

He bows to the man. With unwavering poise he returns to his book and moves to a more comfortable position leaning against a wall. Throughout all of this, he never removes his heavy equipment, nor shows signs of fatigue or strain when moving. This person is obviously not a normal human.

[Kydell]

The front door flies open as a thin crow tengu trips through the threshold and onto his beak. His backpack jangles with many vials and glass bottles that might have broken in the fall. He stands up and looks about himself urgently, finding his more corrosive chemicals to check their containers. Nothing had broken and he hadn't been injured so he looks about to confirm he was in the Adventurer's guild as he had hoped.
Bokkuro had traveled far to arrive here in Gal-Elyna. He brushes off his long overcoat and takes it off, folding it over his armored right arm. After the grandmaster speaks, Bokkuro addresses him, 'I am here to join the academy as you say. My title is Tsumaru Bokkuro, but I go by Bokkuro.'

[Jormengand]

The guildmaster nods, and turns to a screen on the wall - a magical re-representation of the city's quest board. The man standing behind points to one of the quests. "That one should have been done ages ago."
"Indeed."

The guildmaster turns to you. "Before we get started, I am Orin Kassador Corisath, master of the guild. This man here is Arcanus Zephyrus Mecharius, a student who has been here for most of two years.

To enter the guild, you must complete a quest set for you by me, under the supervision of another student. Arc, if you would?"
"Me?"
"Yes. It's time you led one of these."

Arcanus shrugs. "Fine. Right, this is our quest. Some necromancer's been messing around with zombies, we don't like zombies, we kill zombies. Simple as that. We may as well go now."

[Chained Birds]

Arthar Kuri

Scratching his chin,

"Haven't read up on zombies yet. Though I do know a bit about their habitats in dungeons and other dark areas. Could be quite informative."

He looks around at the others.

"So, how many people will be a part of this quest?"

[Linguz]

((Too many people have a color similar to brown and green is open. Taking green.))

Tiknam turned his eyes on the nerd-warrior. "I'll join. Can you tell us anything more? Where they're situated maybe?"

[HopeHubris]

Artuk gives a light growl of annoyance
"Undead... You can't scare the undead... I suppose I'll just have to grind their bones into dust, leads to my question I suppose" for a fearsome looking hobgoblin, he seems to ramble on a bit "We going to be fighting these things in a cramped little dungeon? Gah, these things are always in cramped little dungeons" the last portion grumbled under his breath

Why couldn't it be humans... One mounted charge and they tend to die, and those that don't tend to flee terrified, easy pickings, undead don't flee...

[oyzar]

Cerin Mistyhair looks around at the gathered party. "This is quite the gathering we got here. Would indeed be nice to know a bit more about the enemies we are facing, do you have any information, for example the strength of the necromancer or the amount of zombies? One thing is knowing about your enemy, but to deal with situations optimally you also got to know about yourself. It would be nice if we could all share what abilities we got that are useful for both combat purposes and otherwise. Myself I am quite adept at magic, hindering the enemies so they are easier to deal with by splitting them up and making them unable to fight." Cerin starts moving towards the exit, motioning the others to follow. "We can talk as we move there. Who wants to be in the lead? I would prefer to be somewhere in the middle of the party seeing as I am likely not the best at stopping an eventual attack head on."

[Linguz]

Tiknam focused and four balls of light appeared around him, orbiting him. "I've got a little magic, but the rest of my abilities will be revealed if we end up sticking together for long enough." He begun to follow the gnome.

[Jormengand]

Arcanus waves his hands in the air. "Woah, woah, woah, too many questions; way too many questions. Okay, these zombies seem to be sitting in a cave near Gal-Elynia and killing people who don't want to die very much, so all of you lot and I are going to stop them. I'm not waiting for them to come out of their caves, so we're fighting them there.

The necromancer was just some guy who got it into his head that an army of the dead would be really cool, and decided to make some and realised he couldn't actually get them to do anything useful. I, on the other hand, am a moderately powerful spellcaster - that is to say a virtual paragon in any city of the world except Gal-Elynia. I'd be most comfortable in the middle as well." Arcanus takes a deep breath, perhaps so as not to giggle childishly at the possible implications of what he has just said.

"In any case, let's move!"

You reach the cave, and suddenly everyone except Artukhears a wierd creaking noise.
Tiklam and Kiglatan also realise that this noise is a trap failing to work.

Arcanus just looks puzzled, and then turns to the suddenly apparent zombies. "Game on!"

Initiative:
Arcanus
Arthar and Tsumaru
A zombie
Rest of party
Another two zombies

Arcanus rushes up to the zombies, and blasts them with fire. It doesn't take an archmage to realise that it's Burning Hands. The zombies all look moderately miffed.

Yeah, Arthar and Tsumaru can have their turns now. Don't worry about exact locations, just assume that people can reach zombies and that zombies will probably attack the nearest people.

[Chained Birds]

Arthar Kuri

Drawing his longsword from its sheath and wielding it with both hands,

"So this is the appropriate weapon for fighting Zombies correct? Should be interesting."

Arthar dashes forward and strikes at the creature with an overhand vertical slash.

Move Action: Move towards nearest undead. (Moving behind the Zombie if able to provide Flanking for others)
Standard Action: Longsword Power Attack VS Zombie A
- Attack: [roll0] This is a 13
- Damage: [roll1] This is a 9

[HopeHubris]

Artuk charges at a zombie swing his flail in an arc towards it


I'm going to go ahead and assume the first zombie doesn't drop me in a single attack

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Kydell]

On the walk, Bokkuro tells the others about himself as he ambles near the rear of the formation, 'I am a chymist; I deal in alchemy. My specialty is in synthetic combustibles and restorative philters.

When the group arrives at the cave, Bokkuro takes out his longsword. He then pulls out a vial from his satchel, picks a small chunk of yellow chalk-like substance from a pouch on his belt, which he drops into the vial that begins to fizz and throws it at any zombie that may be within five feet of a second zombie, and twenty feet away from him.

Move action: Take out longsword.
Standard action: prepare and throw alchemical bomb.
Throwing bomb: [roll0]
Bomb damage: [roll1] : 5 dmg to zombies within 5 ft.

[Jormengand]

Bokkuru (Who has calculated his splash damage a point too low), manages to damage two of the zombies while Arthar brings one down. Unfortunately, not the one who got initiative. The one who did get initiative manages to charge into Arthar, slamming into him for 10 damage.

Then, the man with the flail enters, and mildly irritates the zombie. Ur doin it rong.

[Linguz]

Tiknam draws his new throwing axe and takes aim for a second before letting the axe fly, at the zombie's skull. He curses under his breath as the axe goes wide.

Attack: [roll0]
Check: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
Critical: [roll3]

[oyzar]

Cerin reaches into one of the pouches strapped to his waist and pulls out an tiny bit of something and hides it in his hand, then he folds his hands together in front of his chest before throwing them out wide and says "sina ram ure ta il sinome". A 10 foot high stone wall shoots up in front of the zombie not engaged in melee with anyone cutting it off from the rest, the wall goes away from the party on both sides of the zombie 25 feet in each direction. Afterwards he says "Let's deal with them one at a time." before moving a bit away from where the party is fighting to get a bit of range between himself and the fighting.

Position:
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/867/wallposition.png
Spell:
Silent Image

[AttilaTheGeek]

Kigaltan hefts his sword and shield, and attacks the zombie in front of the wall. "Well", he says, "I can hit things with a sword!"

Attack roll: [roll0]
Crit confirm (if 24-25): [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
Crit: [roll3]
"That is, most of the time. My magic comes from Iomedae, but it isn't much."

[Jormengand]

The zombie in front of the wall flails inefficienty at Kigaltan, just to supplement the group's inefficiency. Arcanus tries to hit it with a morningstar, but fails.

Wow. Everyone just missed.

Arthar and Tsumaru, to the fore!

[Chained Birds]

Arthar Kuri

Grimacing at his injury and the fact that most everyone else missed a shambling group of mindless creatures,

"I wonder... Just wonder..."

Arthar then painfully moves up towards the next zombie and slices at it with a diagonal strike going from the zombie's lower left side to its upper right side.

Move Action: Move towards nearest undead. (Moving behind the Zombie if able to provide Flanking)
Standard Action: Longsword Power Attack VS Zombie B
- Attack: [roll0] (+2 If allowed Flanking)
- Damage: [roll1]

[Kydell]

Bokkuro decides to take a chance attacking the zombie in front of the wall with his longsword.

Full round action: Charge and attack with longsword.
Roll:[roll0]
Confirm Critical:[roll1]
Damage:[roll2]

[HopeHubris]

Damned corpses, my weapons are useless... Well, I'm not much good for anything else...
Artuk continues to bludgeon ineffectually at the zombies


[roll0]
[roll1]

[AttilaTheGeek]

Kigaltan takes another swing at the zombie, and...

Attack: [roll0]
Crit confirm: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
Crit damage: [roll3]
He sighs as he just barely misses the undead, then raises his sword to go on the defensive.

[Jormengand]

Tsumaru kills the zombie. Wahey. Remaining zombie stares at the wall. Man with the bludgeoning weapon does some damage. Wahey.

[Linguz]

((I'm going to assume that Tiknam can get the throwing axe without moving past 30 feet.))

Tiknam runs to the place where the throwing axe ended up and picks it up.

[oyzar]

Cerin claps his hands together and the wall disapears as if it was never there. Then the gnome loads and fires his crossbow at the remaning zombie.


[roll0]attack
[roll1]confirm critical if above roll is 22 or 23
[roll2] damage
[roll3]critical damage damage

Since maintaining the illusion is a swift action, I assume stopping it does not actually cost an action.

[HopeHubris]

Artuk continues to bludgeon the zombies ineffectually

[roll0]
[roll1]

[AttilaTheGeek]

Kigaltan shouts as he scores a direct hit on the zombie. "Yeah!"

Attack: [roll0]
Crit confirm (if 24-25) [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
Crit damage: [roll3]

[Jormengand]

Arcanus surveys the scene, watching as the final zombie falls. He then turns to the paladin and pokes him, before stepping five feet back. All of a sudden, Kiglatan doesn't feel so good... (Yeah, you just lost 7 DEX. That must hurt)

Oh man, we're all rolling initiative again!

Arcanus, somehow, manages to win initiative again. God knows. He then proceeds to blast multiple people in the face with burning hands. Sorcerers have so few spells...

Kiglatan, Tiknam and Artuk all get hit in the face. Tiknam stylishly dodges, but still takes 2 damage. Kiglatan stares at the fire as it washes over him for 5 damage, and Artuk tries to dodge but fails, suffering 6 damage. Arcanus promptly retreats thirty feet back.

[Chained Birds]

Arthar

Noticing something amiss,

"Now what is this?!"

Arthar tosses his sword to the ground as he draws his hammer from the strap on his back. Moving forward, he lashes out at the Sorcerer with a strike against his legs.

"You've got some explaining to do."

Free Action: Drop Longsword
Move Action Move 30ft after the Sorcerer (Or Charge Action if too far away)
Free Action: Draw Lucerne Hammer
Standard Action: Trip Attempt VS Sorcerer CMD
- [roll0] (+2 if allowed a Charge Action)

[Kydell]

Tsumaru turns around as Arcanus betrays his compatriots. 'Now that won't do,' he grumbles as he drops his longsword, pulls out a spear and lets it fly at the turncoat.

Free Action: Drop longsword.
Move Action: Pull out shortspear.
Standard Action: Throw the spear at Arcanus.
Attack Roll:[roll0]
Confirm Critical:[roll1]
Dmg:[roll2]

[Jormengand]

Arcanus falls to the ground just in time to watch the spear fly over his head. Though, it's not like it was going to hit anyway.

[Linguz]

Tiknam goes up to him and, if possible, tries to hold him down. "If I have any idea what's going on, he's possessed or controlled. Can someone see if he's got a magical aura?"

[AttilaTheGeek]

Kigaltan runs up to Arcanus and helps Tiknam pin him to the ground. "Were you that necromancer all along? Detect Evil."

[oyzar]

Cerin moves towards the suddenly hostile magic user. "We should worry about our own safety first, then figure out what is causing this. Figuring out what is causing this will take some time. Can someone bind and gag him? I will try to make it easier" the gnome says as he moves. At the same time he reaches down to one of the many pouches around his waist and pulls out what appears to be a tiny bit of wool. "Sal olwa taur too lanne" Cerin says and as he lifts to his hand towards the man on the ground a white cloud appears from his hand and hits the prone wizard directly in the face.
Daze DC 16 vs will

[HopeHubris]

"Bah, just break him, if he survives we can question him later!"
Tries to swing his flail at the sorcerer, but misses as he is tripped


Move adjacent to Arcanus
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Jormengand]

Tiknam splendidly fails to grapple, Kiglatan falls over before he can reach the sorcerer - the floor is not evil - Arcanus is undazed, and the flail goes flying over him again. Arcanus blasts the party with fire again. Not much of a concetration check. Given that Tsumaru, Cerin and Kiglatan are out of his range, they escape unharmed. However, Tiknam takes 2 more damage, Arthar 3 and Artuk 2. Our party is lucky today!

[Linguz]

Tiknam tries to grapple him again, and keep his hands from moving so he can't cast spells.

Touch: [roll0]
Grapple: [roll1]

[HopeHubris]

"Gah, sit still so I can crush you!"
Artuk again tries to swing his flail at the magic man


[roll0]
[roll1]

[Chained Birds]

Arthar

Arthar takes a knee when the flames hit him. He seems to be down for now.

Stabilize: [roll0] VS DC 10

Arthar seems to be alright, but he can't do anything else without risking further injury. (He is now disabled and unconscious)

[Jormengand]

Arcanus wriggles out of Tiknam's grasp just in time to take a flail to the face. He spits blood onto the floor. He looks weary, he must know he can't win.

[oyzar]

Cerin repeats the movement he did earlier, geeting another bit of wool out of his pouch, "Sal olwa taur too lanne". It creates a white cloud like before which speeds towards the downed wizard. He moves a bit closer but stays out of range of the flames.

Daze DC 16 vs will

[Kydell]

Bokkuro saw the expert dodge Arcanus made before, but doubts he could pull it off again. Bokkuro then pulls out another spear and throws it.

Move action: take out another shortspear.
Standard action: throw it at Arcanus.
Attack roll:[roll0]
Critical confirmation:[roll1]
Damage:[roll2]

[AttilaTheGeek]

Shouting "Oh no you don't!", Kigaltan gets up and runs after Arcanus.

Move action: Stand up
Move action: Run after him.
Depending on where I tripped, I should be less than 30 feet from him.

[Jormengand]

Arcanus shrugs off the daze, and watches the spear flies effortlessly... next to him. He then makes his concentration check and pokes Kigaltan, who collapses, comatose.

[Linguz]

Tiknam takes his axe, and flanking Arcanus, attacks with the blade. He was done with trying to take him alive, as they were starting to lose members.

Attack: [roll0] (+4 to hit from him being prone)
Threat: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
Critical: [roll3]
Sneak Attack: [roll4]

[HopeHubris]

"You won't take another of us!"
Artuk swings his flail wildly, trying to once again take down the magical menace

Move adjacent, flanking if possible
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Jormengand]

Arcanus shouts a word you don't recognise, and vanishes just as you were about to kill him. That's not fair!

Oh well.

[Chained Birds]

Arthar

Arthar is unable to move until healed some... So. No comment.

[AttilaTheGeek]

Same for Kigaltan.

[oyzar]

Cerin concentrates hard trying to figure out what Arcanus said
Spellcraft:
[roll0]Spellcraft check to identify the spell
If the spellcraft succeds:

If the spell was invisiblity:
Cerin moves towards where Arcanus disapeared. "He is just invisible, hit where he was before, he can't have gotten far from standing up, hit at him." While moving he pulls out colored dust from one of the pouches at his waist and utters "Kalina aira kulda laure" and sparks of color of all colors of the rainbow flies towards where the magic user was last seen. Trying to avoid hitting as many of the still standing members of the party as possible.
Color spray DC 17
If the spell was teleportation:

Cerin makes a disapointed face "He teleported away. With two downed members and the guild itself turning on us, I am not sure it is wise to continue immeadiatly.."


If it fails:

Cerin says "Lets see if i can find out where he is." Then takes up a hand and waves it towards where Arcanus was "Manka eller ai templa e yamen sina":
Detect Magic

Edit: Rolls in the ooc seeing as the preview button seem to have ruined the roll.

[Linguz]

Tiknam's axe scrapes the ground as his target disappears without a trace. He picks himself back up and places the axe in its sheath.

Heal: [roll0]
DC 15

Detect Magic: You detect magic when looking in Tiknam's general direction.

If you focus for longer:You detect magic emanating from Tiknam.

If you focus for longer:Make a knowledge (arcana) check versus a DC of 15.

If you succeed: You know the aura is transmutation.

[oyzar]

Cerin continues concentrating, moving his hand and chanting. He looks towards Tikam "Looks like Arcanus is not the only one who had something to hide. What sort of spell are you using Tikam? I hope you are not going to betray us as well" Cerin lets his arms fall to his sides as he finishes chanting.

[Linguz]

Tiknam thinks quickly, as he steps back a few paces. "It's just, ah, a disguise. I can do that. Watch." He flares his hand and his body changes. He's now a female elf, with brilliant green hair and eyes. He speaks in a female tone, "See? A disguise. It's no big deal, is it?"

[oyzar]

"Why would you need a disguise? Anyway no matter, we got more pressing things to attend to. With two people down and out, I think we should go back to the guild to heal up before we continue this. Though given that Arcanus is from the guild I am not sure we can trust them. Can anyone help carrying them? Because I can not."

[HopeHubris]

"You mean the human was hiding something? I am very much surprised." Artuk growls, though you can still make out the hint of sarcasm, "My horse can carry the others, and that gods damned traitor hurt... I would not turn down some healing"

[Linguz]

"Why do you need to ask right after we get betrayed by a supposed comrade. Unlike you guys, that mage doesn't know what I really look like now. And in case any of you are traitors too, you don't know what I really look like." He looked to the hobgoblin. "I'm sure you're hiding many things as well." He dispels the illusion, returning to his normal human look. "And going back to the guild sounds like a good idea. At worst, we'll be able to inform them that one of theirs is a turncoat. That is, unless they're all enemies as well."

[Kydell]

'There's no use arguing--the only way we can prove our trust to each other is through our future deeds.The proper thing to do now is get back to the guild and patch these folks up. We'll inform the headmaster of what has happened, and help out however we can. Does anyone disagree?'

[HopeHubris]

"Heh, no point in over-thinking it, lets just go, if they try to kill us when they get back, well, we'll just have to take as many as we can down with us!" Artuk chuckles, breaking into raucous laughter when he finishes, throwing one of his unconscious allies onto the back of his horse

[Jormengand]

You arrive at the academy, again, to be welcomed back by the guild master. "Welcome back! You succeeded..." he takes a moment to take in the unconcious pair and the damaged party. "But... oh..." A blue light flashes in his eyes. "Solion's Greater Heal Everything!" All your wounds heal, and the unconscious get up wearily but unharmed.

"Now, what happened... and where's Arcanus?"

[Chained Birds]

Arthar

Waking from his painful sleep,

"What a horrible setup... Why must people betray me! The next person who does that will get an Axe to th-
Hmm, could I have my axe back good sir?"

He gestures with an open hand.

[Linguz]

Tiknam passes the axe to Arthar. He doesn't consider stealing it, even though it was useful. Maybe the guild'll have axes to sell. "Thanks for it. I would've been useless without it, for the most part."

[Chained Birds]

Arthar

Putting his weapon away,

"Ah, thank you respectable person. I see you in nothing but he noblest of lights.
Now Master, I think some of us are more curious as to why your Mage friend decided to figuratively stab us in the back?"

[AttilaTheGeek]

Kigaltan replied. "Yeah, he led us into a trap, turned on us, and then disappeared. Could he have been the necromancer all along?"

[Jormengand]

"What? Arcanus..."

The man sighs. "The last expedition he led were completely obliterated by a trap - as in, a literal, mechanical one that had been set there. Arcanus only just got out of the way.

We know roughly what Arcanus is capable of. He's nowhere near strong enough to set three zombies on you. He probably just used them as a convenient quest to get you to go on.

I have a question. As I said, last time the recruits were killed by a mechanical trap. Did anyone try to use one on you?"