The Necromancer's Tower - Group 1 IC

[Archwizard]

Having completed your most recent mission slaying undead, the group is resting at the Captain's Quarters Inn in the town of Lakeside. A messenger dashes in and goes to the front desk and you hear "...looking for...problem...undead specialists..."

The innkeeper nods in your group's general direction, and the messenger looks relieved.

"Greetings, friends. At least, I truly hope I may call you that. I have been sent by Lord Ibrahim III of Ogdenhall to request your aid. Our region used to be a very prosperous one, with numerous trade routes going through the city proper. Over the past few decades, those routes have stopped being traveled, and as they have gone, so has our fortunes. The city, and surrounding area, are now a mere shadow of their former glory. However, we have hope again, but we cannot do it without your assistance. We believe we have traced the origins of our situation to a tower near the edge of our influence that had been abandoned almost a century ago, and we thought it was still abandoned. We believe that some form of evil influence or power has taken up residence there and it is this force that is causing our troubles. We are also almost certain that whatever is there is related to undead abominations. Lord Ibrahim sent his most trusted and powerful knight, Sir Kramer, to investigate. Alas, Sir Kramer never returned from the tower. This is why you are being sent for. Clearly, the task is beyond our current forces and your reputation for expertise and ability to deal with undead precedes you. I have been sent with sufficient transportation to bring you to Ogdenhall to speak to Lord Ibrahim regarding our situation. Will you come with me?"

Current Map:

http://bfb.bogleg.org/~whitewolf/tower/Group1_map.png

1 Square = 5'x5'

Current Party Status:

http://bfb.bogleg.org/~whitewolf/tower/Group1_status.png

[Rendel Nep]

Melov stares contemplatively at the fire, occasionally sipping his beer. Suddenly his interest poerks up as soon as the word 'undead' is mentioned.
i heard undead? we get to smash undead? please reid, we can do it. Melov pleads to his friend.

[Scholar23]

Stepping out from the shadows Fudow said " Of course, seeing as we have already completeled ur last ask. In whay way do you need our help? Spys, scouts.... Killers? I the later tell us what proof do you have of these creatures. From what you told us only rumors of what could be you have told us. A knight can get lost, trade can be easly disrupted by bandits. Have the dead been see or have you only heard of them? "

[Toliudar]

Reid rises from the table and lifts his hand to take Merov's massive one. He squeezes it reassuringly.

"Yes, Merov. It does sound like this will be another chance for you to smash undead. It's very good that you want to help these people. Very good."

The young priest smiles at the messenger and gestures to an unclaimed chair nearby. He nods in Fudow's direction.

"But where are my manners? These are Merov and Fudow. Over there are Anslag and Kurt, and that's Anise in the corner. My name is Reid. As I suspect that you have guessed, we would like to hear more. But your journey has been a long and, no doubt, dusty one. Might I enquire as to your name and your beverage of choice, sir? We can get a better understanding of the situation, and then depart together."

[Quakes]

Anise seems to be a bit withdrawn, sitting in her corner, surrounded by her trusted companions. But the mention of undead plaguing innocent people sparks a fire in her eyes.

Even if it is only bandits, they need to be dealt with. And if it truly is undead causing the problem, then we are duty bound to assist. I have no problems causing abominations to meet their end.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt moves to the chair nearest to the door.

Wouldn't be the first time we were tricked, one way or another. Better make sure this guy doesn't try anything funny.

[Archwizard]

The messenger looks at Reid, "My name is Telain, and I am a personal messenger for Lord Ibrahim. Thank you for the offer of a drink, but first, let me show you this parchment."

He takes out a rolled up piece of parchment, which has affixed to it a very ornate seal:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-TUANFHHA03E/TjycgEfcMTI/AAAAAAAAABo/B8VRqOH4-xY/s144/Ogdenhall_Crest.png

If you unseal and read the parchment, it essentially says what the messenger already said, and it is personally signed by Lord Ibrahim.

Telain sighs heavily. "I wish I knew more. “ He glances at Kurt, ”I assure you, there is no one trying anything funny here. It is very frustrating to see one's home slowly decay and die."

I don’t remember anyone having Knowledge (Nobility), but if you do you can make checks regarding the seal and the names Sir Kramer and Lord Ibrahim.

Telain then sits down, although he sits on the edge of his chair like a man ready to jump back up at any time. He signals for a drink and when it arrives he takes a deep drink before looking at Fudow and continuing, "I have no direct information. When I say that I have watched my home decay, I mean that in a general sense. Trade used to be vibrant, artisans would come from all over to perform in the bazaar, and the land was simply alive. That is no longer the case. The only trade that comes through is that which is strictly required. Performers, artisans and similar folks don't come around anymore in any appreciable numbers. Even the weather seems to have gotten worse."

He seems to be lost in thought for a moment, but then snaps out of it. "Of course you hear rumors. People have moved away, or so we are told. Stories of the families being kidnapped or killed abound. A storm comes through and a graveyard is ripped up. Did the storm do it, or something more sinister? As times have gotten tougher, the stories and rumors have gotten darker. Of course, when we learned about the tower and the potential source of our troubles that it is, dozens of rumors about what is going on there erupted, each more horrifying than the last. When Sir Kramer and his party failed to return those stories got worse." Telain shakes his head and sighs, "Sir Kramer was...is a good man. I am proud to call him a friend, and I know for him not to return is very dire indeed."

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid settles in a chair next to Telain, and when his drink arrives Reid slips the server a coin before the messenger can pay. He leans in, engrossed in the man's tale, and barely glances at the heraldry and commentary on the letter.

"I'm so sorry about your friend's disappearance. That must be so worrying for you - for so many of the poeple there. I do have a few more questions, if you don't mind.

"How long a walk is it to Ogdenhall? I'm afraid that I haven't yet had the pleasure. How long has Sir Kramer been gone? Who else travelled with him? What lead you to link the dropoff in visitors with the tower?"

Now that the thought has been put in his head, Reid is examining the man's reactions a bit more thoroughly this time.

Sense Motive: [roll0]

[Quakes]

Knowledge Roll

No nobility or local, but here's a roll for history, if there's anything about the tower that that may tell me, or something about Lord Ibrahim

Knowledge History
[roll0]

[Vendarien]

Anslag polishes off the last of a tankard of ale and shifts in his seat gesturing for another drink. I am on Anise's side. It is our duty to fight the scourage of the undead wherever it may be found. Plus its sounds exciting to meet a lord.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt moves a bit closer. "And what makes you think this is undead? Could be anything holed up in that tower, causing these happenings for some reason. Why do you think its undead in that tower, and not something else?"

[Archwizard]

Knowledge Results:

Ogdenhall is located in the southwest region of the continent, and was once known as a strong fortified city that was a worthy stop for trade routes between the coast and much of the continent’s interior.

Lord Ibrahim III is part of the Tredine family that has ruled Ogdenhall for the past couple centuries. His family have been capable rulers, steadily growing Ogdenhall's importance and wealth until about 30 years ago. The past couple decades have been bad for Ogdenhall. You don’t know anything about Lord Ibrahim III, but you do know that it was considered very unfortunate when his father, Lord Ibrahim II, died. It seems people did not have the faith that his son was as capable a leader. The decline of Ogdenhall that started under Lord Ibrahim II due to the troubles accelerated with his death.

Looking at Anslag, Telain says, "Your eagerness and attitude are much appreciated." Turning to Kurt, "As I said before, I have no more information that what I have presented already. If you wish a better answer you must ask my lord."

Telain stands and says to Reid, "I have come with a small company of men and horses to take you to Ogdenhall. It is about 5 days to the southwest from here, and Sir Kramer has been missing almost six months now. He had set of with a company of ten able bodied fighting men from Ogdenhall's forces. After that, my lord decided that finding a specialized force was in order and I was ordered to find you. I shall prepare to depart, for I must report the result of having found you. I truly hope you will come with me."

Sense Motive - Telain seems totally in earnest about what he says and in his desire to have you return to Ogdenhall with him.

Please remember I will roll that, and a few other, skills. I much prefer giving you that answer and having you not know that you got such a nice result on the dieroll.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Sorry, Archwizard - happy to have you roll in the future.

Nodding, Reid glances at his companions. He slides his travel cloak off of the back of his chair, and reaches stretches stands up to lay a hand on Merov's shoulder.

"It does indeed sound like all of us are interested in helping, or at least interested in hearing more about your unfortunate situation. Since this involves a journey of some days, and since there are still a goodly number of hours of daylight remaining, I'd suggest that we finish our drinks and continue this conversation on the road. It's a gracious thing that you've come prepared with horses for us. It will make for a nice change."

[Quakes]

Anise seems nervous at the prospect of so many strangers about, but nods her assent at Reid's words.

[Rendel Nep]

we're going? Yes! Melon cheers and eagerly runs up the stairs to get his belongings.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt gathers his belongings, and has one last glass of ale. No matter what the actual threat is, we can handle it.

[Vendarien]

Anslag jumps to his feet his trinket covered cloak jingling.
Wonderful!This promises to be exciting. I have to get another drink to go.
Anslag wonders off to prepare for the trip.
l

[Toliudar]

Reid slips into his cloak and picks up his bag. He briefly taps the sun symbol on his chest as he heads towards the door.

"Sun-Father. Whatever this is, give us the strength and courage to face it with grace. Let the light of your benevolence shine on the imperfect servants that we are. Amen."

Outside in the sunshine, Reid looked around for the horses and escort that the messenger had mentioned.

[Scholar23]

Adjusting his cloak he said "Well lets go meet your lord and see want else he can say about these Occurrences. I will see you out there in a minute, just got to check up on something." With that he went through the tavern and disappeered around the counter. Once he made it through the Kitchen he wishpered " Duvallow " and had his apperance change to that of a young stable hand and went to look over this so called caravan. His hood now in the shape of a brown cap coving his now red hair. Once there he would walk around and listen to any of the gabble the grauds and the handlers.

Bluff check for hiding that he is looking around for surprises and that he is actually leaving through the back door.

Stealth check for when he sneaks through the Kitchen and whil he scouts the caravan out side.

Spot and Listen checks once he get near to the caravan to find what is going on

[Archwizard]

Fudow exits through the kitchen, with apparently no one noticing him. As he rounds the outside of the Captain’s Quarters he sees half a dozen armed men standing next to thirteen horses. The men are wearing tabards over chainmail. The tabards are emblazoned with the symbol you saw on the parchment Telain had. Each man also carries a longsword and a longbow. They seem to be well disciplined and are clearly waiting for Telain to exit the inn. There is no conversation between the men, and if any of them notice you they keep it to themselves. Behind the men is a wagon with supplies such as food, tents and other necessities for a long trip.

As Telain exits the tavern one of the men looks at the others and says, “Alright men, mount up.” With that, the others get on their horses and the man that spoke brings Telain his horse.

As the rest of the party exits the inn, Telain takes the reins from the man and says, "Thank you, Sergeant. I see your men are ready to depart, excellent. This is the group we were sent to find, and they have agreed to return with us."

The Sergeant nods sternly and replies, "That is good news. We must make haste back home."

Telain turns to you and says, "As I mentioned, it's about 5 days with minimal stops to return to Ogdenhall. I don't expect much trouble."

With that, he mounts his horse and prepares to depart.

The caravan sets out to the southwest. You travel fairly constantly, with minimal rests for the horses. At night the sergeant and his men take shifts keeping watch, urging everyone else in the group to rest.

On the third day of travel you start to pass by some farms and similar lone homestands. Towards the end of the day you begin to notice occasional patrols of soldiers, usually 4-5 men, that have the crest of Ogdenhall on their armor. These patrols salute the sergeant and Telain, but otherwise continue on their way.

Throughout the fourth day the population increases, and now you see periodic villages. Everywhere you go, people that see the caravan tend to watch it with mild curiosity, but so far the land and its people seem healthy and content, if not happy.

Around midday you see a structure off in the distance. It appears to be a very large fortress-like building which Telain informs you is Ogdenhall. Once it is in sight, you notice that the character of the land begins to subtly shift. People seem to be moving a little faster, carts they are pushing are not quite as full, fields don't seem to have the same bounty growing in them. There's nothing you can put your finger on as wrong, it just doesn't feel right.

On the fifth day, the sense of unease and discontent increases. The walls of Ogdenhall come to dominate the landscape. The structure is impressive, and you can see men patrolling along the walls. You think you also see ballistas positioned periodically along the walls. As you get closer you notice that a second set of even taller walls rise from the center of Ogdenhall.

The road leads up to the northern wall of Ogdenhall. In the middle of the wall are a set of giant doors, each one roughly 20' wide, made of what appears to be solid steel. The walls themselves appear to be roughly 20' tall and are made of stone. As you pass through the gate you notice there appears to be an inner keep structure with walls that must be 30' tall. The other thing you notice as you pass through the gates is the pair of stout dwarves immediately on the inside of the gates. Each is wearing full plate, wields a battle axe, and carries a shield. They look even sterner than your typical dwarves.

On the other side of the doors is an open courtyard area, roughly 80'x40'. Straight back from the gate is a small 20' wide structure, from which a large man in plate mail exits as your caravan goes through the gate. As Telain gets off his horse, he greets this man with a nod, "Captain Karath, it is good to see you again. Please send a runner to inform the lord that I have returned."

The captain nods, and motions to a boy behind him. The boy takes off like a shot. Another boy approaches and Telain tells him, "Take care of these horses well, they have been ridden hard for five days and have earned a respite."

Telain turns to you and says, "This is Captain Karath, the head of the Ogdenhall's guard and also overall defense forces in Sir Kramer's absence." Captain Karath's face darkens at the mention of Sir Kramer, but he says nothing. Telain continues, unaware of the Captain's reaction, "To the east are living quarters. In general, artisans who are staying long term will stay there, and many merchants and tradesmen who have shops inside the walls also live there with their families. To the west is where the shops, the inn, and similar buildings are."

Telain begins to walk towards the west and beckons you all to follow him. He begins pointing at buildings while talking, "Might as well point out where stuff is while we are on our way. The entrance to the inner keep is on its southern wall. In the northwest corner there you can see the entrances to The Sheltered Soldier, our inn, and The Thirsty Soldier, our tavern." After turning the corner and walking south about a hundred feet there's a gap between buildings where armor, weapons, and various metal goods are displayed. Telain points and says, "As you can see, these two buildings are where our armorer, weaponsmith, and blacksmith work. They are called The Soldier's Shield, The Soldier's Sword, and The Soldier's Supply." Telain chuckles a bit, "And, as you can also see, there's a bit of a theme to the naming of our establishments. It goes back to Ogdenhall's founding, when this land was much wilder than it is now. The armorer and weaponsmith are both very old dwarves that have been here a very long time. In the southwest corner there are the leatherworker, the tailor, and the general store."

As you round the southwest corner you see a large, open area in the center of the southern area. Telain says, "This is our bazaar. Right now it's not that busy, but it used to be crowded like you wouldn't believe, day in and day out. I hope you are able to help us restore those days. Over on the other side of the Bazaar is the temple to Heironeous. Most of us here worship Heironeous, though some do worship Pelor, and an altar to him is also set up inside the temple."

In the center of the southern inner keep wall is a tunnel that leads north through the wall. There's a raised portcullis at the entrance, and standing by it are two armed guards. They wear banded mail and wield greatswords. The tunnel is 7' wide by 10' tall, and if you look up you notice that it has murder holes all along it.

The tunnel opens up into a roughly 30'x30' courtyard. Around the courtyard are benches and flowers, and in the center is a fountain. In the northern wall of the courtyard is a wooden double door.

Telain pushes this door open, and beyond it is a 20' wide corridor. He walks due north and you follow him. You see various hallways that branch off the one you are in, and doors that must lead to other rooms. At the end of a 50' corridor is another double door, this one is open with a herald and a guard stationed outside it. Inside you clearly see a moderate throne room.

The herald looks at Telain and nods, then enters the room slightly ahead of you.

"My lord," the herald announces, "your messenger Telain returns from his mission with the party in question with him."

With that, the herald exits the room and shuts the doors behind him. The room is 30' deep x 50' wide, with a throne in the center of the northern wall. Around the room are various chairs, suits of armor, decorations, and other things you would expect to find in a throne room.

Lord Ibrahim is seated on a throne made of bronze with some gold highlights. The crest is emblazoned along the head and back. Standing next to the lord is a tall man, dressed in green and black robes. In each corner of the room stands a guard at attention. They appear to be wearing different uniforms than the rest of the guards you have seen.

Lord Ibrahim stands after the doors shut. He is a tall man, powerfully built and he moves with a certain ease.

"Welcome," he intones, speaking in a rich voice, "thank you for coming. I am glad to see that Telain's journey bore fruit. I just hope there is something you can do to help us. The message Telain bore contained the essence of what I know, but I wanted to meet you and answer any questions that you may have. While you are here, I have instructed all of the various shopkeepers to give you as much of a discount as they can. I cannot ask them to take a loss of course, but they will do what they can. You may also wish to seek out Quelaas, he is the high priest in the temple of Heironeous and a resourceful man."

He pauses, and then continues, "I would imagine that you are interested in being paid for your assistance, which is of course only natural. I will pay you 12,000 gold if you are able to confirm elimination of whatever is in the tower. If you can find Sir Kramer and return him to us, I will pay you another 6,000 gold. If he is dead, please try to return his armor and sword to us. They are family heirlooms and his son should have them."

Lord Ibrahim looks melancholy for a moment, and clearly Sir Kramer was important to him. The lord then looks at you expectantly.

Map of Ogdenhall:

http://bfb.bogleg.org/~whitewolf/Ogdenhall_map_2.png

1 Square = 10'x10'

[Quakes]

Anise is looking around around in awe as Telain is giving them a tour. During the ride, she was almost getting used to the soldiers, but even the reduced capacity market is sending her back into her shell.

However, her wide eyes were useful for taking in all the details along the way.In the fields, she was observing the reduced yields and the auras in the air, trying to find if magic was the cause. (scan the countryside with detect magic as possible.)

She also wracks her brain to remember anything she had read in her books of magic that could be causing the poor crops, or if it just the result of unhappy field workers.

Once in the fortress, she does the same observation, searching for any magical sabotage that could be depressing the populace, or anything that would be focusing the wrath of the undead menace on this province.



knowledge arcana
[roll0]

perception +10

[Archwizard]

As Anise studies her surroundings, she doesn't not see any immediate, obvious cause for what is going on. The closer they get to Ogdenhall, the less hope there is among the populace and that certainly is a contributing factor to the area's difficulties.

[Vendarien]

Anslag joines Anise in wide eyed amazement having steped foot into a strong hold for the first time. Upon entering the throne room and meeting a lord for the first time his eyes almost pop out of his head.
Will save to resist closer ispection due to flaw
[roll0]

[Vendarien]

Unable to resist his curiosity any longer Anslag begins walking twards the lord studying him and his throne intently.
search check on Lord Ibrahim and his throne

[Toliudar]

Reid

Over the course of a five-day journey, the chatty and personable Reid will have learned the names, family histories and aspirations of all of the men travelling with them. :smallwink: Aside from being genuinely interested in them as people, he's trying to learn more about how the malaise of recent decades has impacted their individual lives.

--

He is deeply distressed by what he sees around them as they travel towards Ogdenhall, and is increasingly eager to try to help. At rest breaks, he chats with the locals, offering his prayers and encouragement, and learning what he can of the challenges that they face.

--

Reid introduces himself and (unless they do so themselves) the others to Captain Karath, and compliments him on keeping everyone safe and doing two jobs as he fills in for Sir Kramer.

--

As the group comes before Lord Ibrahim, Reid is a little unclear on the protocols of this land, so defaults to giving more honour rather than too little. As they approach the throne and stop, he bend to one knee, placing a hand on the ground before him in supplication, and does not rise until the Lord does himself. Reid listens silently to the lord's greeting and offer.

"My Lord, I am Reid den Birchcliff, son of Heireus Birchcliff, of Barclay, and it is my honour to be a Servant of the church of Pelor in Fallward. May Pelor's light bathe and nourish you and your family.

"My Lord, in order to better serve you, it may be necessary for us to understand more of the tower, and Sir Kramer's mission. Telain has been an exceptional and invaluable aide, but has indicated that you may know more of these matters.

"He spoke of a tower being identified as the source of your land's malaise. How did you come to that conclusion? Had the tower been there before, or appeared at the time the trouble began? What does it look like? Is there ever traffic in or out of the tower? Why do you suspect undead to be involved?

"Also, regarding Sir Kramer...what was he like? What was his mission? Is there a portrait of him that we might see, a drawing of his armour and weapons, that we might better know them as we proceed? Have you used magic to try to reach out to Sir Kramer, or to ascertain his wherabouts or, er, status.

"In the event that we meet someone claiming to be Sir Kramer, how would we be certain that it is in fact him. I'm afraid that we have had some small dust-ups with skin-stealers, face-changers, and the like. Having a few minutiae of a man's personal life can be invaluable in sifting the truth. "

Reid paused, bowing his head apologetically.

"Forgive me, lord. We have had several days to think about what questions might best be asked."

Sense Motive +8 to try to get a sense of what, if anything, might be hidden behind the plain words.

[Scholar23]

Fudow Walks off into the courtyard once the group was distracted by the lord and the lord by them and through the suppliers hoping to hear anything that could be of use. Each time he is hidden from eyes he changes his disguise from that of a old women looking for work, to that of a young lord looking at the wears.


Stealth check(+11) to leave with out notice
Gather information Roll please (+10)
Listen Roll please (+1)
Knowledge Local Roll as needed (+7)

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt, being an amateur weaponsmith himself, has interest in the dwarven craftsmen. But for now, Kurt will stay with his companions, until plans are finalized.

[Archwizard]

During the journey Reid learns that the men of the guard force have not seen any increased difficulties in terms of dealing with the populace. If anything, their jobs have gotten easier as fewer people come through and those that stay seem to be affected by depression.

These observations make sense with observations Reid makes while blessing farmers and others as they ride through. The blessings are accepted in a very mute way, as if the people accept the sentiments behind them but don't necessarily believe they'll make any difference.

Telain and the guards seem a little amused at Reid's overly formal greeting.

Lord Ibrahim says, "Thank you for your blessing. May Pelor, Heironeous, and all the gods dedicated to good help us. First, let me explain
why we know the tower is the source of the troubles. For a long time it was just assumed that the natural ebb and flow of socities was responsible for the decline in trade and visitors. So of course delegations were sent to surrounding cities to encourage trade, artisans and craftsmen to come. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful. The decline continued, and about five years ago we organized a serious effort to clear the countryside of any monsters, marauders, or other problems. That was a great success as far as it went, but the underlying problem remained. About a year later, the farmland to the west started producing less food and livestock suffered."

As Lord Ibrahim is talking, Anslag starts to walk up towards him. The guards in the back corners of the room quickly converge upon him and gently, but quite firmly, prevent him from getting too close. Lord Ibrahim watches this without any apparant concern.

Anslag can't get close enough to perform a proper search without using force, which the flaw would not compel him to use.

He then continues, "Two of my most trusted and able advisors are Quelaas and Qint. Quelaas runs the temple of Heironeous and is a student of the divine. Qint is a student of the arcane and has been with my family for decades. Once the farmland started to suffer, I asked them to use their magic to research the problem. They discovered eddies of necromantic magic that were tainting the land. They were able to trace the magic back to the tower, but unfortunately, that was as far as they could go. Their magic is not powerful enough to see inside the tower at all."

Lord Ibrahim begins to pace a little bit, and he nods at the guards holding Anslag who release him. "Now, the tower was built almost three centuries ago when the land was much wilder as its own fortified edifice. It is probably two thirds the size of Ogdenhall, and was designed to be self sufficient. It was ruled by noble d'Hellen family that swore loyalty to my family. About one hundred years ago the last d'Hellen died and due to the area be much more civilized than it had been, combined with the expense of running the tower, the decision was made to abandon it. So it was sealed."

Lord Ibrahim stops pacing and squarely faces the group, "The tower really hasn’t been thought about much since then until recently. Since we could not find out more with magic, Sir Kramer was sent to investigate. He was chosen for the simple reason that he is our best and most experienced fighter. He took ten good men with him. For them not to come back, not even a single one, is very troubling indeed. They left almost six months ago. As to what Sir Kramer was like, that is simple. He was everything a lord could hope for in a commander for his forces. He was loyal, noble, efficient, effective. He stands about six feet tall, with fair sandy hair with a solid stance and build. The easiest way to recognize him or his belongings are to look for his family crest. It was designed by me and given to him when he was granted the title sir. Ask him what it means, and he will tell you the tree in the design is for his steadfast loyalty and the shield represents the dedication with which he protects Ogdenhall and its people.” Lord Ibrahim looks thoughtful for a moment, and clearly Sir Kramer being missing weighs heavily upon him. He then shows you the crest he was talking about.

http://bfb.bogleg.org/~whitewolf/d'Hellen%20crest.jpg

He then looks at the group once again and says, "Unless you have more questions, I would appreciate you preparing to set out. The tower is roughly 3 days to the southwest.”

Sense motive: Lord Ibrahim seems quite in earnest about what he says, and you sense nothing but genuine concern for his lands and people in what he says.

I'll deal with Fudow's sneaky ways in another post.

[Vendarien]

Anslag upon being released gives a deep bow to the king and quickly moves back with the others his eyes staying on the floor until Sir Kramer's crest is shown. Feeling a little befuddled due to his obvious mistep Anslag has no questions about whats at hand and wates to see if the others do after witch he bows once again to the king and quickly leaves the throne room.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid nods his understanding of the Lord's instructions, and carefully studies the insignia before stepping back from it. He is touched by the powerlessness these people must have felt against the onsleaught of a thing that wmoved beyond their understanding.

"Again, my Lord, our deepest sympathies regarding the dire circumstances your people have been facing, and the recent loss of your brave knight."

He glanced around at the others still present, and pauses only if he sees dissent or a question looming. Otherwise, he draws himself up and delivers this formal request by way of acceptance of the arrangement.

"My Lord Ibrahim, since this is a matter of both importance and some timeliness, may I request that we be provided with horses for the journey there and back, and that you assign one or two of your retinue to accompany us to the tower.

"Your servants could observe the tower after we enter, keep watch over the horses, and report back to you in a more timely manner should we not emerge promptly. If we are able to enter the tower and then leave again before exploring it completely, we can return to the two servants and provide them with an interim update, information which is then not lost if we are, well, killed.

"The horses will help us save a day off of the travelling time, and would assist us in returning with Sir Kramer in a timely and more comfortable fashion, should we locate him alive."

[Rendel Nep]

Melov frowns with concern. but Reid, what if it's too scary? or if the zombies and skeletons come out and eat them? he interjects.

[Archwizard]

Lord Ibrahim looks at Reid and says, "A most sensible plan. Telain shall make the proper arrangements."

Telain bows and says, "Of course my lord."

Looking at Melov, Lord Ibrahim says, "I appreciate your concerns, and there is certainly an element of danger. But I would not risk my people foolishly and I fear the danger to them is greater if we do not act."

[Toliudar]

Melov frowns with concern. but Reid, what if it's too scary? or if the zombies and skeletons come out and eat them? he interjects.

Reid nods at Melov.

"That certainly would be bad, Melov. It's very good of you to think of their safety. But we'll make sure that the ones that come with us stay back from the tower. And...that's why it will be important that we be very careful and very brave when we go in, so that they don't get past us and go outside."

[Archwizard]

Meanwhile....

Fudow manages to get out of the throne room without being noticed, but quick glances down the side halls indicate that trying to get further into the inner keep would be unwise. Going out into the main living area of Ogdenhall, he slips into and out of groups of people and stores, listening and watching. In each place, the story seems to be the same, people going about their business but in an almost mechanical way.

He hears snippets of conversations "...and to think that the father had just gotten work, then to leave like that...", "...I don't know how that could happen to only one section of a graveyard...". People are quite concerned about Sir Kramer not returning, and many of the younger people seem to think that Lord Ibrahim may be in over his head. The older generation remembers his father as a man of integrity and skill and have faith that he taught his son well.

There is also the occasional mention of Lord Ibrahim sending for help, but no one is sure what type or from where. Most people know about the tower, but no one is really sure why or when it was built. They do know it has been abandoned for their entire lives (even the oldest folks, making that at least 70 years).

Farmland and livestock to the west seem to be particularly hard hit, and more families have left from that area than any other (and not all have been announced).

[Quakes]

Thanks to you lord, and to Telain. We should leave as soon as possible.

Anise is attempting subtlety in an attempt to remove herself from the scrutiny of the nobility.

[Yog-Sothoth]

"I suppose I am ready. I think we should all check, and make sure we are prepared. Then we get to the bottom of this." Kurt does not seem happy to leave so soon after arrival, but he trusts Reid to make sure this quest is wholly legitimate.

[Archwizard]

Telain speaks, "If you would come with me, why don't we go seek out Quelaas at the temple of Heironeous."

[Scholar23]

Fudow, after his little bit of wondering, comes back near the tail end of the conversation and catches Telain saying "why don't we go seek out Quelaas at the temple of Heironeous" and perpares to fallow the goup and tell them what he had learned once they were alone.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Bowing formally to Lord Ibrahim, Reid nods to Telain.

"That would be much appreciated. I believe we're ready when you are."

Glancing around, Reid notices that there were now five of them, not six. Ah, Fudow. Well, he knew that the inquisitive Fudow had sometimes noodled out useful information in ways that Reid would never have thought of. Reid was sure that the presence of a group of heavily armed strangers in town would draw enough attention that Fudow would have no trouble being directed to them, no matter where they went.

[Scholar23]

" Behind you Reid, " Fudow chuckled, " so shall we be off? " he said as he walked towards Telain.

Missed my post I see :smallsmile:
#38

[Quakes]

Anise is a bit excited at the prospect of discount scrolls, or maybe a potion or two. She follows towards the temple, eager to be out of the scrutiny of so many personages of importance.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt really likes the idea of the temple, maybe some divine insight can be shown on this tower to the south.

[Toliudar]

Reid jumps slightly at Fudow's voice, but does not otherwise comment. He is happy to follow along to the temple with the others. Perhaps more could be learned about these necromantic emanations.

Sorry, Scholar. I don't know why your post didn't show up when I checked. Good response, though!

[Rendel Nep]

Melov ambles along gracefully (as graceful as a seven and half foot giant can) taking in all the sight of this new place with interest.

[Archwizard]

Telain leads the group over to the temple which is immediately southeast of the entrance to the inner keep. The large double doors stand open and welcoming. The interior of the temple is 30' deep by 40' and is dominated by an altar to Heironeous. Along the side walls you see altars to Pelor and Kord.

An older man dressed in vestments of Heironeous comes forward and says, "Greetings! Welcome to the temple of Heironeous, although as you can see we honor any deity devoted to good. My name is Quelaas. You must be the group that Lord Ibrahim informed me was coming. Please, come this way." With that, he walks over to the corner of the temple where a table and some chairs are set up. He sits down and beckons you to do the same. Telain stands slightly back from the table.

"I'm sure Lord Ibrahim has filled you in on most of what has transpired. For my part, all I can really say is that the necromantic auras definitely are coming from the tower, and that they have been getting stronger. I fear they are quite a bit stronger than the magic I command. There are also auras of enchantment and abjuration, which I assume are responsible for my inability to get any readings from inside the tower itself. The necromantic auras combined with disappearances and graveyard defilations can only mean undead." Quelaas shudders for a moment. "It saddens me to think of that fate for those I have ministered to. Especially Sir Kramer, he was such a proud and able warrior, he would be horrified to suffer that fate." He reaches into the folds of his clothing and extracts a scroll. Speaking of fate, please take this scroll. I fear the dangers you face and while I hope you never it, it is best to be prepared. Unfortunately, it's the only one I have."

The scroll contains one casting of Raise Dead.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt stops by a appropriate altar, and brings out his Symbol of Kord. Grant me courage on this quest, so I may lift the affliction from these people. I wish for the strength to destroy my enemies.

[Toliudar]

Reid

As they enter the temple, Reid offers a simple respectful nod to the altar to Hieroneous, and smiles in appreciation when he sees the shrine to Pelor. Time enough for that after greeting Quelaas. He settles gratefully into a chair next to the priest and listens to his additional information.

"You have done exemplary work in keeping tabs of the situation, Quelaas. Thank you. Might I ask - do you know how many remains were stolen from the graveyard? And what steps have you taken to ensure that no more are, uh, repurposed in this way?"

Since no one else immediately reached for the scroll, Reid gently lifted it from the table and unravelled it. His eyebrows arch in surprise.

"This is potent magic indeed. I will pray that we will not need it in days ahead, but you are kind to provide it, given the uncertainties of what we will face."

[Archwizard]

Quelaas nods, "I pray you do not need it as well. As to the graveyards, I have done my best to consecrate and hallow them to make it more difficult for necromantic forces to use them, but as I said before, I fear I am overmatched. And I do not know how many are missing for that purpose, some of the graveyards are centuries old."

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt takes in this new information. Are some of these graves as old as the tower? And can we see them?

[Archwizard]

"Actually, the oldest graveyards are older than both the tower and Ogdenhall itself. The original village is slightly west of here. It was when that start growing that the earliest of Lord Ibrahim's ancestors decided to build Ogdenhall. It was a great success, and after a couple decades resources were allocated to build the tower. That was also a success, but then became a victim of its own success. Once most of the land to the south and west was civilized, people began to not see the need for the tower to be maintained, so about a century ago they abandoned it. Until recently, we didn't even know it was occupied again, it is set almost a full day by horse away from any of the roads that are traveled today. I suppose the isolation was why it was chosen."

Quelaas looks pensive for a moment before continuing, "As to seeing the graveyards, that's simple enough, they're on the road to the west and you almost can't avoid them on your journey to the tower.

[Scholar23]

" Well then why don't we go befor the night comes and check on those grave? " Fudow said " Afterall we have just arrived and it would not go amiss not to go aid these people as wuickly as possible. "

[Rendel Nep]

so we're going to be counting graves before we go to the tower? Melov asks the others after a short silent prayer had distracted him from the wordy conversation.

[Archwizard]

Telain takes the group over to the stables and makes arrangements with Captain Karath to have seven sturdy horses brought out. He gets on his horse and the rest of the group follows suit.

You ride for about half a day when he stops at a group of buildings that are older than most of the others you've seen. This must be the original village that Quelaas referred to.

Telain leads you to a graveyard that has clearly been disturbed relatively recently. Most of the damage has been fixed, but there are obvious signs of fresh dirt on graves, far too many to account for normal deaths in this small hamlet, and recently broken gravestones.

Telain looks at Fudow and Kurt, "This is the oldest graveyard in Lord Ibrahim's lands, it is also the closest any disturbance of substance has been to Ogdenhall itself. I don't believe anyone did an inventory while repairing the graveyard, but I do know that some caskets were empty. Whether it was animals or something more nefarious, I don't know."

A relatively young man comes up right as Telain finishes speaking and says, "That is correct. My name is Var, and I am the junior priest here. Marcus is the elder priest and he felt it best to restore the graveyard to a peaceful state was the most important thing. Quelaas came down from the fortress to help us bless the land. If I had to guess, I'd say about half a dozen coffins were affected, mostly from the older sections of the graveyard." Var looks thoughtful for a moment, "The oddest thing about the whole event was that it was a quiet night that night. When we woke up, it looked like a storm had hit the graveyard and nothing else. It was really much more destruction than would be required if simple grave robbery was the goal. Some people have managed to convince themselves that a small storm came through and was responsible for the damage, but I fear that's just wishful thinking rater than considering the alternatives."

[Scholar23]

" Well then tell us your opinion, what do you think of all of this? " Fudow said jumping off his horse. " Was there anything else that was as unusal happening near here? "

[Quakes]

Anise scours the area for traces of magic, hoping to find some source of the disturbance, or traces of the direction it may have left. She casts two quick spells, to help her if necessary.


Cast Mage Armor - just in case =)

Cast Detect Magic
Knowledge Arcana
[roll0]
Spellcraft
[roll1]

[Archwizard]

Anise's spell reveals nothing.

Var looks at Fudow, "My opinion is that whatever in the tower is dangerous and will eventually kill us all if something isn't done about it. The disturbance here was almost 7 months ago, and it was not much later that Sir Kramer and his men left for the tower. Since Sir Kramer was about the best warrior in these lands, I fear his failure to return is costing many people their hope. Of course, that is why you are here. Quelaas has been trying to keep the faith and spirits of everyone by keeping the temples appraised of Lord Ibrahim's plans. People here are descended from the original settlers of the region, and many are proud of that fact so they are very reluctant to leave the area. People in other villages around here have not been so steadfast, and I don't especially blame them."

"As to other strange occurrences, you should talk to Rhia in Orinthal. She's the priest there, and she reports that many folks there have simply vanished without telling anyone. Orinthal is the village closest to the tower, and she fears that whatever is in there is abducting her people. People that have decided to move out usually at least tell her or their neighbors, or someone. But far too many seem to have just left without any notice. What was once a vibrant community of a few hundred is almost fifty percent gone, a rather shocking development."

Var looks at the group earnestly, "You MUST stop whatever is going on."

[Rendel Nep]

i think we can bring hope. giving hope is the next easiest thing to punching the undead back to deadness and burning them. Melov says happily with a confident smile.

[Toliudar]

so we're going to be counting graves before we go to the tower? Melov asks the others after a short silent prayer had distracted him from the wordy conversation.

"Counting, or at least seeing how they were dug up, I suppose. Not everyone buries only one person in a grave site. Especially if there is a pressure on space."

[Vendarien]

Anslag places a hand on Var's shoulder with a slight scoul. We will do what ever we can to stop this. Undead or no undead there is no excuse for treating the dead in such a way

[Scholar23]

" Well then, shall we have a look at this tower, but I should scout ahead frist of course. " Fudow say seeing nothing else that could be of use.

[Toliudar]

Back at the temple:

Since it seemed that it would be of no obvious use to the others (not yet anyway, and not ever, Pelor willing), Reid rolls the scroll up and tucks it away in a side compartment of his packsack. The others seemed ready to depart, so he rose as well.

"Thank you, Quelaas, Var. We will indeed do everything in our power, I'm certain."

He turns to his colleagues with a nod.

"I will offer up a few prayers for our success and safety before Pelor's shrine before we go. You're welcome to join me. Otherwise, I'll be ready to go in a few minutes."

He heads over to the shrine of Pelor and spends several minutes deep in meditative prayer.

--

At the graveyard:

Reid adds his own prayers to those of the other priests. As they tour the site, he speaks softly to Var.

"It is not my place to say, really, but until this situation is dealt with - by us, or by others if we fail - it might be best to stop burying your dead. I noticed fresh graves. While I of course respect a variety of burial practices, no one wants their loved ones to return in this way. In other towns we have helped with such difficulties, they have turned to the use of funeral pyres and crematoria to protect the sanctity and dignity of loved ones."

Once the tour is complete, he thanks Vel again, and mounts up.

[Archwizard]

Var looks at the group with gratitude. "You seem an earnest and capable group, your presence and words have buoyed my spirits. And I shall take your advice regarding burials seriously. What you say makes sense, it is yet another uncomfortable truth we must face."

He bids the group farewell as you mount up. Telain then leads the group to Orinthal, which is almost a day and a half ride away. Along the way you see regular patrols of armed men with the crest of Ogdenhall on their armor. These groups are slightly larger and better armed than the ones you saw to the east. Spending the night at an inn along the way, you can see that the lack of trade is severely affecting these people. Clothes are rattier, food and drink is thinner, and merriment is almost nonexistent. Looking at farms, the animals are also clearly suffering from hunger, and the plowshares and other equipment you can see clearly needs repair work. The sad condition of the farms is almost as sure to blame for the food situation as any other cause.

The group reaches Orinthal at nightfall on the second day out from Ogdenhall. Telain directs you to a small inn, almost no more than a couple spare bedrooms in someone's house, and says he'll fetch Rhia.

About twenty minutes later he enters with a striking looking young woman who has dark, coppery hair and brilliant green eyes. He introduces her as Rhia, the priest for Orinthal. She focuses her gaze upon the group and says, "Telain has told me of your group and your interactions with others as he has lead you here. It is most gratifying to hear. What Var has told you about the population here is true, and I wish I knew more about it. I know some people have simply moved away, either to other parts of this land, or even away from Lord Ibrahim's rule. Rightly or wrongly, many blame him. If it weren't for my duties to those who remain, I would probably leave too. But others I would never have thought would leave have also either left or gone missing, and with so many legitimate departures, it is hard to know how many, if any, are not. I shall say a prayer every night for your safety and success."

In the morning the group sets out for the tower. The land steadily gets wilder, and the road clearly is quite unused after a fork in the road about an hour out. After about 5 more hours of riding, a large, black structure can be seen in the distance in the middle of a large field. It almost looks more the a strange pyramid than a typical tower It contains multiple levels, each one square and set off center of the one below it. As you get closer, you see that the structure is immense, it must measure a couple hundred feet to a side and rises about sixty or so feet from the ground. From your vantage point, you cannot even see the bottom of the tower, for it is surrounded by a sturdy looking, vine covered wall that is twenty feet tall. The path you are on clearly leads up to a wrought iron front gate. The group stops maybe an hour away from the tower. There are about 2 hours left of daylight.

[Toliudar]

reid

As they reached the tower, Reid looked around for a relatively defensible, sheltered spot for their guides and horses.

"Fudow, far be it for me to in any way cast aspersions on your formidable skills, but are you sure you want to be alone on an initial look-see? If you run into trouble on the far side of that thing, help is a long way off. I trust your judgment, though. It's your call."

[Quakes]

Whether you scout tonight or not, there will be a fortified ca,p to fall back to. We should definitely wait for a full day before breaching this dark place.

perception +10 to find a campsite

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt takes in all the new information, from the last few days. This looks like this is truly a undead type problem here. The scale though...not anything like we ever dealt with. A exciting new challenge for a just cause. I hope we are ready.

[Vendarien]

Anslag clutches a trinket from his cloak in his hand. After what we have been told I do not hold much doubt that we are dealing with one who raises the dead, but we have no idea of their power. We should be cautious. I think 2 of us will be quiet enough to have a look around the tower without being too defenseless. Once a site is found Anslag helps to tie the horses and set up camp.

[Scholar23]

" Well thenI will only go around the building and if anything of interest happens I will head back. Either way I will only be gone for an a few hours. " Fudow said, " anyways hopefully I'll be back befor dark. "

With that he rode forward while the others setup the camp, stopping a halfhour away from the tower, he disguises as a sheep herder. Sneaking forward he apporhed the tower on foot. As he apporched he noticed ....

Stealth check please
Spot/listen check please
seacrh check if there is anything of interest

[Archwizard]

Anise scouts around and finds a small copse of trees on a low hillock just to the north of the road the group came in on. The elevation is very slight, but it is enough to have a good view of the surrounding area. After he points out the campsite to Fudow and Anslag, they begin to scout around the exterior of the tower.

The wall surrounding the tower is uniform in height and is in good repair. The only gate is the front gate, and there are no visible windows anywhere on the tower. The scouting trip is uneventful. If anyone, or anything, inside the tower notices them it does not show it. They get back to the camp as darkness is settling in.

The night passes uneventfully, with no sound or light coming from anywhere. In fact, it is unnaturally quiet all night....

This is a (very) basic overview map of the tower, top-down view.
http://bfb.bogleg.org/~whitewolf/Tower_basic.png

The wall is not shown, 1 square = 10'.
Each level is a complete square (so black is 250'x250', etc).

[Quakes]

Anything of note around the tower? I'll check the gate for magical tampering, unless you suggest another means of entry. It should be checked for mundane traps as well, though I would wager that whatever is creating the undead is not savvy in the ways of springs and pressure plates.

Now that there are no eyes of authority staring at her, Anise is all business. She is quick to want to delve into this tower and find the source of the risen dead.

Cast detect magic
remaining sorcerer spells
0th-5
1st-6

[Rendel Nep]

'doesn't look too high. i bet i could carry most of you over the wall if you want.' Melov eagerly offers.

[Toliudar]

Reid listens to Fudow and Anslag's report, and nods thoughtfully at Merov's suggestion.

"Going over the wall rather than through a door may have its merits. The most significant downside would seem to be that we have, instead of an ideally open and perhaps shattered door behind us, a solid wall. Not so good for a hasty exit."

He glanced around at the trees.

"On the other hand, it wouldn't be too difficult to improvise a couple of ladders. Even hanging a rope on the far side would provide some means of egress. If there don't seem to be guards visible, it might be useful to use a means of entrance other than the front door."

He shrugged. His studies had been more in matters of faith, and less in the making of seiges. Perhaps others had a different perspective.

[Scholar23]

" I say we should do both for the simple fact of diverting thier attention and the need for support from above for those below. This wy we can bet a hasty retreat if needed or have an overall advantage in battle. " Fudow said, "but does anyone have a means to scry inside the structure? "

[Archwizard]

Anise scans the area with her spell and detects three moderate auras. One is Necromancy, one is Abjuration and the third can't be identified. The Necromancy aura is definitely the strongest of the three. The tower itself is the source of the auras, the gate and wall don't appear to be radiating any magic.

Unless you guys post otherwise, I'm assuming nobody goes within 30' of the gate or wall.

[Vendarien]

I'm going to see if I can get a look at what is between that wall and the tower. Dose anyone have a spyglass I could use?

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid shakes his head.

"No spyglass, I'm afraid, but I'll come with you. I'm feeling antsy. At the very least, I can be there in case you run into trouble."

[Vendarien]

The company will be nice. Lets try to find a vantage point.
search check to find a tall sturdy tree that may be close enough to the wall to have a look
search +1

[Archwizard]

No need to search for trees,, they're kinda big :)

All around the tower, nothing is within 1000' of the tower's wall except grass. The vines on the wall are thickest near the gate.

[Rendel Nep]

um... do you want climb on my back then? i'm the tallest thing around. no trees here. Melov asks.

[Yog-Sothoth]

If anyone can climb the vines, we could look in. Otherwise, we go through the front door.

[Vendarien]

I will give it a try.
climb check on the vines closest to the door [roll0]

[Rendel Nep]

no, those climbers might be poisonous. i'll just take the stairway to the heavens. he then closes his eyes and takes a few deep breathes.When he opens them again they briefly glow with hints of flame and with that he takes a running jump and pole vaults with his quarterstaff past the rest of the group. There is a rush of warm wind and then he jumps.

Melov is attempting to levitate in the air. So for this to work, Melov has to clear 35 ft to get 10 ft in the air (-5ft because of his quarterstaff). His base jump skill is 14, +10 for doing a running jump for +24.
Jump check [roll0]. If the result is above 35 he levitates in the air for 1 ki points thanks to Leaping Dragon

[Scholar23]

"I'm just going to act as lookout till we know whats inside" Fudow said, "Wouldn't like to have to find ourselves cornered would we?"

[Toliudar]

Reid unhooks his mace, but simply watches with admiration as his big friend leaps up, up and up. He'd seen Medov do this half a dozen times, but it never ceased to amaze him.

[Quakes]

And I was about to say I regretted not buying a scroll of levitate. Thought it's still on the list for next level.

[Archwizard]

As Anslag approaches the vine he notices something is wrong about it and is on his guard just as a vine lashes out to attack him!

Anise sees it half a second before Anslag does, but isn't able to shout a warning in time, and Mel is too focused on trying to make his jump to see anything other than his goal. The others are simply watching the surrounding area and fail to see the vine's attack.

Initiative:

{table=head]Initiative Order
{table=head]Name|Roll|Order
Melov|[roll0]|4
Reid|[roll1]|1
Fudow|[roll2]|3
Anise|[roll3]|6
Anslag|[roll4]|2
Kurt|[roll5]|5[/table][/table]

Vine Attack:
[roll6] (Yes, +17)
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10] vs. [roll11]

Anise and Anslag get to act now, then into full initiative order.

The vine whips out and around Anslag, grabbing him in a tight hold. It squeezes him hard, doing some hefty damage.

[Quakes]

Seeing that she did not have time to stop Anslag from walking into the moving vines, she throws up her hand and a burning ray erupts from her palm. Her aim was off in her haste, and the ray went wide, scorching a small bit of greenery from the wall.



ranged touch attack
[roll0]
damage
[roll1]
DC 15 reflex save to avoid catching on fire - 1d6 damage per round.

[Toliudar]

Reid

I'm not sure if you insist that we post in order, or don't mind doing a bit of reassembly work when you process. I'm hoping the latter. If it's the former, I apologize, and will repost later.

Reid glances up as he hears Anslag call out in pain, and curses his own inattentiveness. He runs up behind Anslag and offers up a brief prayer to stem the bleeding the vines have inflicted. There is a brief pulse of light that emanates from the priest.

Move action: move to BQ31.
Standard action: Convert Divine Favour to Cure Light Wounds for Anslag: [roll0]. If it's possible for this touch to turn into Reid holding onto Anslag to make it harder for the vines to pull him closer to the gate, Reid will do that.
Swift action: Activate Protection Devotion. All of us gain a +3 sacred bonus to AC.

[Scholar23]

Hearing his friends shots Fudow turned around to see a mass of vines detache themselves from the wall to attack Ansie and latch onto Anslag. Rushing forward he dodged past Kurt and threw a dart from his vest at the mass that was slowly trying to envelop his friends and said

"Everone get back" laughing he said "Figures the gate would have be easier, anyone got some magic to talk to these things or burn them? I don't care which.". He continued as he dodged the lashing tendrials.



Moves to BS 31
Throws a dart at vines attached to Anslag (improved percise shot allows me to ignore -4to not hit allies)

Roll to Hit
[roll0]

Dmg
[roll1]

Crit is 20/x2

[Archwizard]

Anslag struggles against the vine that has him wrapped up, trying to break free.

[roll0] vs. [roll1] No bonus from Reid here, this happens before Reid's action.

Commence Round 1

Anslag's efforts to break free are futile, and the vines maintain their tight hold on him. Reid moves up to help Anslag as he struggles with the vine, touching him with the healing spell and then grabbing onto the vines to try to pull them off.

Reid: [roll2] This is Str +9 (bonus x3) - 16 (Str score) to be added to Anslag's next Grapple check (assuming it's at least +1, otherwise ignore it).

The vines around Anslag crush him as another set of vines lash out to attack Mel.

Anslag: [roll3]

Mel:
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8] vs. [roll9]

Check me on that +14 to Mel's grapple: 6 (Str) +4 (BAB) + 4 (Considered Large for Powerful Build).

The vines hit Mel as well, beginning to squeeze him tightly as they wrap around his body.

[Quakes]

Seeing how bad her aim had been before, Anise decides to go for something that can't miss, and three magical bolts shoot out of her hands. She targets the areas that are grappling her friends, hoping any distraction may help them break free.


cast magic missile
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Vendarien]

Anslag realizing his strength is no match for the vines and he cant take much more clicks the back of his boot shooting a blade out of the tip and begins to kick at the vines in hopes of weakening it.

Move action: eject hidden blade
Standard action: attack the vines with light weapon. ac [roll0]
dmg if I hit [roll1]+1 more for insightful strike if it is not immune

[Rendel Nep]

everyone,i did it! i can see above the- AGGH! hextor's navel, the plant is attacking! Melov attempts to inform the others before being caught by surprise.REID! what do i do? i think it's trying to break me! he shouts now distressed by the unusual plant. i'm setting it on fire. flames of pelor, protect me! he informs his friends while trying his best to rip himself free.


Attack (unarmed strike) [roll0] Damage [roll]1d8+10[roll] and [roll1] fire damage. (applying grapple penalty)

Swift action to activate the Fiery tunic's fire shield power. (caster level 7 but lasts only 5 rounds) Melov's melee weapons count as having the flaming property and any time he's attacked the attacker takes 1d6+7 damage.

[Archwizard]

Anslag's dagger flashes as he sweeps his boot across the vines that are constricting him, slashing them solidly. As he does so, the dart from Fudow and magic missiles from Anise slam into the vines. The vines convulse with the repeated shots and Anslag tries to take advantage of the momentary weakening of its grip. Unfortunately, the vines are able to maintain their hold on him.

Free grapple check to break free:
[roll0] vs. [roll1]
This includes the bonus from Reid.

While Kurt strides up to the main mass of vines to try to help his comrades and do some damage, Mel's elation at levitating and sudden confusion at the attacking vines throws off his attack, and he just misses connecting with the vines as they writhe around him.

[Archwizard]

Begin Round 2

The vines continue to constrict Mel and Anslag, trying to crush the life out of them.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

However, as the vines squeeze Mel the fire around him burns them, and he is suddenly released by the scorched plant.

Okay, party's up! Technically, Reid's action comes just before the plant's, so I'll modify if I have to, but it's extremely unlikely.

[Quakes]

Encouraged by the reaction of the plants, Anise shoots another round of missiles at the plant.


magic missile
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

3 1st level sorc spells remaining

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid looks up admiringly at Medev, twisting and pulling his way free of the vines.

"Bravo, Medev! Good work!"

Pulling out his mace, Reid directs a fleeting burst of soothing warmth toward Anslag.

"Hold on. This thing can't last forever."

Hefting his mace over his head, he tries to bring the adamantine head down onto one of the vines stretched between the gate and Anslag.

Swift action to cast Close Wounds on Anslag, curing [roll0] points.
Move action to draw his mace (and move as needed to be able to strike at the vines).
Standard action attack the vine: [roll1] Damage: [roll2]

[Archwizard]

As Reid provides some relief for Anslag, Anise's spell flies and slams into the vines. Reid then approaches the mass of vines covering the gate, swinging with his mace and managing to connect with a large mass of vines right as they were moving towards him, doing some damage.

2 down, 4 to go

[Vendarien]

Anslag feeling his life being crushed from him by the vines begins to kick at it franticly.

full attack action kicking at the vines
first attack [roll0]
second [roll1]
damage [roll2] [roll3]

[Archwizard]

Anslag's frantic motions cause him to almost flail in the vine's clutches, and his kicks go in seemingly random directions, none coming close to connecting with any of the vines.

[Yog-Sothoth]

In his full plate, it takes Kurt quite some time to reach the vines.
Round 1 Move to BN32
Then Kurt approaches the deadly plant, mace drawn, to strike it!
Move to BL33
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Yog-Sothoth]

Lets see if I get a crit...
[roll0]
What about cleave? Does anything 'die'?

[Archwizard]

Determined to end this plant's menace, Kurt forcefully swings his mace, smashing the plant repeatedly. The second shot is especially vicious and sap is beginning to run pretty freely from the vines wounds. You can see the shine of it on Kurt's mace, a sign of an attack well delivered.

Couple things:
Your round 1 move only reflects 20' of movement, you can double move in a round if you don't attack so you got to BL33 in round 1.

If your move had worked as you posted, you would not have been able to attack twice in round 2 since that requires a full round action to full attack, most movement you can make there is a 5' step.

Crit totally confirmed.

There's only one monster fighting, so nothing to cleave.

Map updated.

4 down, Fudow and Mel to go.

[Rendel Nep]

Melov, now hurt and minorly annoyed about all the bruising he's received decides to finish the battle with a final might kick. At least he hope is.

This is kind of complicated so bear with me, Archwizard, I swear there might be something iffy about my plan of attack.

OK, not sure if Melov has the full line of sight needed for a charge or the particulars of the elevation...I think he's still 10 ft up in the air so I think he's going for a leaping charge but first he has to heal up.

So in order: Swift action to heal himself with Wholeness of body by 20 HP with the extra expenditure of 1 ki point to gain a +5 competence bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls.

Then he's going to jump down next to the vines with a flying kick with a charge attack.
Jump check [roll0] for a long jump going 20 ft(?)
Attack [roll1] (+5 competence bonus -4 power attack +2 charge )
Damage [roll2] (+5 competence +4 power attack +2 (Leaping dragon)) +[roll3] (Flying Kick) +[roll4] flaming property +[roll5] (cobra strike)

[Archwizard]

Mel's kick lands squarely in the middle of the mass of vines, crushing a huge portion of the active vines while the flames engulfing him burn the little bit that is still moving after his impact. You hear a sort of tortured squeal and then all the vines fall limply to the ground. Anslag breathes deeply as the vines crushing him fall with the rest of them.

Just as the party is breathing a bit of relief at the vines being defeated, spikes come flying down from the roof of the tower's first level, catching everyone by surprise!

The spikes fly at Mel, Reid and Kurt... and Mel is slammed by 3 of them as Kurt gets hit by one. Mel's triumph over the vine quickly turns to agony. Reid watches as spikes fly around him, a couple just missing.


Mel:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]


Reid:
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]
[roll13]
[roll14]
[roll15]


Kurt:
[roll16]
[roll17]
[roll18]
[roll19]
[roll20]
[roll21]
[roll22]
[roll23]



Just take these top down as needed:
[roll24]
[roll25]
[roll26]
[roll27]
[roll28]
[roll29]
[roll30]
[roll31]
[roll32]
[roll33]
[roll34]


Two manticores roar as the spikes rain down, and the party looks up to see them standing at the edge of the tower roof.

The roof is 16' up.

[Quakes]

Wasn't sure if it was a new round. posting action.

Knowing that her lack of armor could quickly make her into a pincushion, Anise casts an alternative form of protection. After a moment, several Anises stand in a small circle.


cast mirror image
[roll0] images

[Scholar23]

"Blast it, frist plants now these beast" he said as he strode forward behind his friends "well at least we know someone is home."

Move to BN 32
Slight of hand to hide dart
Slieght of hand [roll0]

[Scholar23]

Jogging behind his friends he went forward to see if he could hit on of the beasts. "Get behind the walls, me and whoevers not injured will distract them till you heal yourselves" he siad and with that threw a dart he had palmed into his hand at the closest one.



Round three
move to Bj 30
throwing hidden dart for a sneak attack
to hit agianst him being flatfotted if he fails a spot check agianst the slight of hand earlier

Aiming for one in square bd30
dart crit 20/x2

tohit
[roll0]

reg damage
[roll1]

sneak attack damge
[roll2]

[Archwizard]

Start Round 3, note: Anise's and Fudow 2nd action above is in Round 3.

[Scholar23]

crit confirm
[roll0]

[Archwizard]

Fudow moves up closer to the gate as Anise casts a spell that causes five images of her to quickly spring up and surround her, obfuscating which of the six Anise's is the real one.

Fudow quickly and forcefully pushes the left gate open and then snaps his arm out, letting a dart fly that nobody had noticed was even in his hand. It flies true and catches the left manticore just below its wing, and given the roar of pain emitted, that must be a sensitive spot.

[roll0]
The "just one more roll" was getting a little silly, so I'm just going to post this one.

Okay, so Mel, Reid, Anslag and Kurt to go for round 3.

[Vendarien]

Anslag takes a deep breath as he falls from the vines clutches and shoots into attention as soon as the spikes strike. Taking Fudow's advice Anslag quickly takes cover behind the wall throwing his cloak open as he runs revealing rows of thin metal disks latched down his sides and readies 2 of them.

Move action: move to BK,34
free action: draw 2 annulets (quickdraw)

[Toliudar]

Reid

Through a combination of luck, faith and steel plating, Reid manages to escape the manticores' initial onslaught unscathed, but he glances around and realizes that he is the exception rather than the rule. Melov and Anslag in particular seem in a bad way.

"Yes! Take cover behind the walls!"

Summoning the power of his faith, he shouts a single word at one of the creatures on the roof.

"Flee!"

He then takes his own advice, and hopes that Anslag and Mel see fit to join him behind a wall, so that he might better tend to their wounds.

Standard action to cast Command on an uninjured (or less injured) manticore. Will DC 15 or move away at full speed for 1 round.
Move action to move to BK 28.

Reid is currently AC 20, HP 38.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt, seeing these manticores cannot be fought at close range, quickly exchanges his mace for his bow, and lets two arrows fly towards the injured manticore.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Yog-Sothoth]

Crit Confirmation
[roll0]

[Archwizard]

Anslag runs to the right side of the gate and Reid is right behind him, running to the left side after shouting his divinely powered command. As his companions move up, Kurt drops his mace and whips out his longbow. He fires off two rapid shots. One sails wide, but the others slams straight into the manticore's throat, doing extensive damage and the beast appears to be almost dead.

As the party moves up, the manticore on the right takes to the air and flies away, landing on the roof of the third level. The second one fires a volley of spikes at Kurt before it also takes to the air, but it heads to the northwest.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]

[roll9]

[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]
[roll13]
[roll14]
[roll15]

[roll16]
[roll17]
[roll18]

As the manticore is about to let the spikes fly, it slips on its own blood and slams its left knee and wing into the roof. As it moves away, you see it walking with a distinct limp, and it doesn't get very far.

Just Mel to go in this round.

[Rendel Nep]

Melov sighs because he realises he doesn't have enough time to get out his sling and take a shot So instead he retreats back to the wall.

Melov draws his sling from his belt and moves to BK26

[Archwizard]

Mel moves over to the left of Reid, preparing for the next bit of action.

Start Round 4

[Rendel Nep]

Melov briefly closes his eyes and concentrates and in doing so heals his wounds once more. Assuming he has line of sight, Melov then flings a stone at the creature that pelted him full of spikes.

Wholeness of Body, spending another ki point for the attack and damage bonus as a swift action, bonus lasts 2 rounds.
Jump roll in case of movement needed [roll0]
Attack [roll1] Damage[roll2]

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid looks over at Anslag and Melov on either side of the gate. Knowing the holy goliath's ability to unleash a world of hurt in a flash, Reid focuses initially on him.

"Let's not make this a habit, yes?"

Reaching over, he allowed Pelor's benificence to flow into Melov. When he finished, he stepped over towards the gate, preparing either to bolt over to Anslag or fire a blast back at the manticores, as the opportunities arose.

Standard action: sacrifice Invisibility Purge to cast Cure Serious Wounds on Melov. [roll0] healing.

Move action or 5' step to get to BK 29.

[Archwizard]

Reid's spell infuses Mel with vitality just as he is channeling his inner strength. With clarity of purpose, Mel jumps into the air and floats above the top of the wall, reaching back and letting a sling bullet fly at the injured Manticore. His aim is true and the bullet slams into the manticore's bad knee, causing it to slam its head into the stone as it collapses in a heap. By the way the manticore is just lying there now, it appears to be dead.

As Mel's bullet does its job, Reid edges over to the gate, preparing to assist Anslag.

Okay, Mel got 29 points of healing, but only needed 28. I'm going to let Reid's healing hit first, so Mel has 1 point of healing left this encounter.

Anslag is waiting to see what happens, Mel and Reid have gone.

So Fudow, Anise, and Kurt still need to go.

[Quakes]

Anise is watching the second manticore, waiting for it to come back within range. When it does, she greets it with a blast of energy from her hands.


Cast magic missile, 4th level 1 spell

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Scholar23]

Fudow seeing his injured friend moved over to cover him while say "Get back you daft cow, due you enjoy dancing with death or our you truly that follish?" and while moving slids another dart from its sheath to his hand, allowing the view of it to get lost in the folds of his cloak.

Move to BJ 31
slight of hand check for dart
[roll0]

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt picks up his mace, and reattached it to its place on his back. Then he moves forward, looking for danger. Move to BH33.

[Archwizard]

As Kurt and Fudow advance, the manticore lands on the roof just over the doors and lets out a roar. Anise steps up and lets her spell fly when she sees the manticore coming, and the missiles slam into it right as it roars.

Okay, updated map is up.
Start Round 5. Everyone's a go.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid chants another hymn of healing and dashes across the open gateway to relieve Anslag of some of the pain of his injuries.

Move to BL33.
Standard action: sacrifice magic circle vs evil to cast cure serious wounds. [roll0]

[Vendarien]

Hearing the creatures roar Anslag jumps from behind the wall throwing the other side of the gate open and unleashes a barrage of annulets at the manticore.

5 foot step to BK,33
Str roll to open gate [roll0]
Full attack action using master thrower trick palm throw (-2 applied for range inc)
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
damage as needed
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]

[Rendel Nep]

sorry, i'm a big target Melov apologises out before flinging another rock.


Attack with the sling including the Wholeness of body effect which will expire by next round
[roll0] [roll1]

[Quakes]

Not wanting to exhaust her repertoire of spells so early in the day, and seeing that her companions likely have the beast well in hand, Anise decides to hurl a rock of her own, despite only having a small chance of hitting the beast. If anything, she may draw some of the fire from its spikes, which would prevent them from damaging her already perforated companions.


move to BL 33, draw sling during move
Sling a stone!
[roll0] -2 for range
damage (haha)
[roll1]


edit: omg i hit it! go 1 damage! minor annoyance accomplished!

[Archwizard]

As Reid dashes across the gates, Anslag steps out and attempts to push the gate open to have a clear path to throw his annulets at the manticore. However. Anslag finds that he doesn't have sufficient leverage to push the gate, and it remains stubbornly closed. While letting the annulets fly, one sails wide of the manticore, but the rest just slam into the vines covering the gate.

Just as Anslag's attack is failing, Reid places his hand of Anslag, causing a sense of healing and relief to flood into Anslag's body.

Melov is distracted by Anslag's efforts, and his concentration on his levitating slips. Just as he is releasing the rock from his sling, he drops about 10', placing him solidly behind the wall. His rock slams into the wall, and bounces off and right back into his head, ringing his bell a bit, but doing no damage.

While all this is going on, Anise shows true concentration, moving up and slinging a stone right into one of the manticore's wings. The manticore growls a bit and shakes the wing.

Okay, couple notes:
1. Anslag couldn't full attack that round, opening gates/doors/etc is a move action. While in some cases I may incorporate said opening into a move action (like with Fudow), it all depends on what seems most logical to me. Fudow was moving a decent distance, and I felt that since he was moving the way the gate swung with the intent of going through it, pushing it open didn't require a separate move action. Anslag trying to do what he did, did.

That being said, I certainly prefer folks posting the more rolls way, because I'd rather you post rolls I don't need than have to either ask for more rolls or just do them myself.

2. Building on 1, only 4 annulets got thrown, and the 3 that hit the vines are all recoverable with 1 move action. The one that went wide I suppose you could go search for....

3. Melov's fail has no game effect other than the miss (lucky) and the change in height (he's 10' off the ground now instead of the 20' required to clear the wall).

4. I moved Anise to BM32. BL33 has previously been moved into by Reid, and first post gets the prize.

So Kurt, Fudow and the manticore still to go.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt once again readies his bow and aims, hoping to strike true, and finally remove this threat.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
Crit Confirm, if applicable
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Scholar23]

Seeing the beast rear its head Fudow draws forth a second dart and throws it towrads it face while the second hidden dart he had palmed earlier was thrown towards the chest.

Full round attack

Attack one (non sneak attack)
[roll0]

Damage for non sneak attack
[roll1]

Attack (sneak attack) if not spot DC 31 to beat
[roll2]

Damage for sneak attack
[roll3]

Sneak attack dmg
[roll4]

[Archwizard]

Kurt's arrows slam into the manticore's chest doing some major damage, causing the manticore to rear back and roar. As the manticore is roaring, Fudow's darts going sailing past its head, missing on either side.

The manticore slams its body down and hurls a volley of spikes at Fudow, seeking revenge for the damage it took. One of the spikes hits him and three more buzz right by his head, almost doing some major damage. The other two hit the ground in front of him.

[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]

[roll6] [roll7]
[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]

[roll12] [roll13]
[roll14] [roll15]
[roll16] [roll17]

[roll18] [roll19]
[roll20] [roll21]
[roll22] [roll23]

[roll24]
[roll25]

Round 6 Start, everyone's up.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid sees the creature stagger and bleed, and hopes that it is on its last legs. To encourage that end, he fumbles at his belt for his trusty - well, not so trusty, really - sling. Whirling it awkwardly over his head, Reid lets a bullet fly towards the creature on the roof.

Move action to pull out his sling, moving closer to the gate as he does so, if possible.

Attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]. Yeah, Reid's not really built for ranged combat. :smalleek:

[Rendel Nep]

After the embarrassing incident of last round, Melov decides totally shrug it and and reposition himself in order to stop the Spikey Kitty. With his fists. :smallfurious:

Taking the whole round to move to the gates. I can't be sure what that entails so I'll just do a jump check.
Jump 1d20+18 Result in OOC thread.

[Quakes]

Anise taunts the manticore, hoping her words will provoke it when her flung rock did not. Come and get me, you overgrown mix of housecat and cactus! You couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with those spikes not worthy of decorating a pincushion!



bluff roll +7

[Archwizard]

Reid's shot misses badly as he hears Anise behind him, taunting away at the manticore. Reid's shot seems to draw the manticore's attention in that direction, and it looks straight at Anise as she taunts it. Mel moves towards the manticore, ready to do some damage.

Note to self: 2 volleys.
No rolls atm. As noted OOC, Scholar, Yog and Vendarien to go.

[Scholar23]

After pulling out the spine from his shoulder he ducked behind his cloak and waited till the beast looked away. In that moment he dove forward rushing to get closer so to get a few more hits on the creature next round.


move action:Stealth Check dc 20 useing shrouded dance trick
[roll0]

Standard action converted to move
Move to BG 29

Shrouded Dance [Manip ulati on]
You can seem to be where you aren’t.
Prerequisite: Hide 8 ranks, Perform (dance) 5 ranks.
Benefit: As a move action, you can attempt a DC 20 Hide
check. If you succeed, you have concealment until the start
of your next turn.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt shoots again, and again, hoping to slay this beast.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll]1d8+5[roll]

[Vendarien]

After catching his annulets and seeing that Anise has its attention Anslag bolts around the gate and closer to the manticore to get a more accurate shot.

move action to BG,30
attack with palm throw (2 annulets with 1 attack roll) [roll0]
dammage if needed
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Archwizard]

As Fudow drops the spike he yanked out of his shoulder and moves forward, Kurt lets two arrows fly at the manticore. The arrows fly right by the manticore's head, just missing. As the manticore swings its head from watching Anise to looking where the arrows came from, Anslag darts forward and lets two of his annulets fly.

They spin with unerring accuracy, both slicing the manticore deeply along the side of its body before returning to Anslag's hand.

The manticore is bleeding heavily from the wounds in its sides as it hurls spikes at the one that just caused it so much pain. The manticore's fury and pain cause it to send the spikes flying wildly over Anslag's head, where they smash harmlessly against the wall behind him.

Sorry Anise, your antics just can't compete with 22 damage at once ;p

[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]
[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]

[roll12] [roll13]
[roll14] [roll15]
[roll16] [roll17]
[roll18] [roll19]
[roll20] [roll21]
[roll22] [roll23]

[roll24] [roll25]

3 volleys.

Easy upshot this time: Attack 1 missed (thank the Sacred bonus yet again).
Attack 2 was a crit fail, attacks 3-6 don't matter.

End Round 6, Go Round 7.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Buoyed with hope as he sees the beast falter and nearly fall, Reid quickly shoves another bullet into his sling and lets fly.

"Flee, beast, while you can. Pelor's light will shine into this place and reveal it to be a hollow mockery of true power."

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Rendel Nep]

Melov, now with a clear view of his opponent flings another shot at his opponent, the other Spiky Kitty.

Attack [roll]1d20+12[roll] Damage [roll0]

Crit confirm [roll]1d20+12[roll] Mishap/Fortune [roll1]

[Rendel Nep]

OOC: Whoops.

Attack [roll0] Confirm [roll1]

[Vendarien]

Anslag lets loose a volley of annulets not wanting to give the beast any reprieve.

full attack action not using palm throw
[roll0] dmg [roll1]
[roll2] dmg [roll3]
[roll4] dmg [roll5]
[roll6] dmg [roll7]

[Vendarien]

crit confirm for 4th annulet
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Archwizard]

Reid, Mel and Anslag all let weapons fly, hitting the manticore over and over. The barrage is too much for the beast and it collapses on the roof, destined to move no more.

Everyone gets 600 xp for the fight.

[Vendarien]

Anslag catches his annulets re holsters them and turns to face the others. Seams like we're off to a wonderful start.

[Quakes]

woo 10% of the way!

Seeing that no one is worse for wear, mainly thanks to Reid's ministrations, Anise tries to recall is any parts of manticores are especially valuable, as spell components or otherwise. Then she turns her attention to the tower itself, trying to divine if there are any other barriers to their ingress.


knowledge arcana +8
detect magic scanning the area and the dead monsters.

[Archwizard]

As Anise scans the area, she notices a glow emanating from a pile of bones near the corner of the open gate. The doors to the tower itself don't reveal anything new compared to earlier scans. The doors look like they are made of brass with iron and lead inlays.

Quick note: The manticores have nothing, and you can't really see them from the ground now that they're collapsed into dead heaps. In a live game, I'd just wait for you to get up there and check, but in PbP I don't want to waste the time. Don't expect that I'll do this often (or again really), it's just climbing up on the roof could be a pain, and I forget if any of you fly.

[Quakes]

Quick note: The manticores have nothing, and you can't really see them from the ground now that they're collapsed into dead heaps. In a live game, I'd just wait for you to get up there and check, but in PbP I don't want to waste the time. Don't expect that I'll do this often (or again really), it's just climbing up on the roof could be a pain, and I forget if any of you fly.

No worries, I didn't figure they would, just doing due diligence as a wizardy type =)

No flying yet...next level probably ;-) Seeing as my defense is craptacular, it's probably a good idea.



Drawn to the glow, Anise hardly registers that she is digging through the remains of some unfortunate soul that was unlucky enough to remain unburied.

[Toliudar]

Reid

The priest murmurs a prayer of thanks to Pelor when the second beast slides off the roof and to the ground.

"All things considered, Anslag, we've learned a great deal. The plant might have lived their without outside nourishment for some time, but manticores are hunters, voracious in their appetite. There was no talk of raids on nearby farm animals, or sightings of them flying around here. That suggests that they're being fed by someone inside the tower, perhaps from a magical source. That means an intelligent master, someone running chores. A person, or people. At the very least, it suggests that the entire tower isn't some throbbing mass of death-energy that will strike down any living creature that steps inside."

Following Anise's line of sight, Reid also spots the bones. Taking a step back, he loads another bullet into his sling.

"Which is not to say that there won't be examples of the walking dead to be found here. Those look to me like exactly the kind of thing we might do well to poke with a long stick, so to speak. Anslag, how would you feel about hitting the bones with one of your rings?"

[Archwizard]

As Anise digs, she finds the source of the glow, a bone about 12" long. She focuses on it a bit and senses a moderate aura of Conjuration (Healing).

[Quakes]

Reid, maybe you know more about this than I. This bone is radiating a healing aura, and not a weak one. I have never seen a wand made of bone before, but I have heard that they hold spells just as well as wood does...

[Vendarien]

Anslag readies an annulet but dose not throw it to avoid hitting Anise but is ready to throw at a moments notice. Very good point. Plus with the size of those vines they either grow extremely quickly or Sir Kramer never made it past the front gate. On that subject though I hope he lives we should keep our eyes open for Sir Kramers crest on the dead. Anise could you have a look for it in those bones?

[Yog-Sothoth]

I am going to make sure this area is secure, before we get attacked again.Move to BH25

[Archwizard]

As Kurt moves to the west, he doesn't see or hear anything that looks like it presents a danger. The wall surrounding the tower is covered in vines as far as he can see, but none of them appear to be moving and nothing attacks him.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid nods to Anise, and walks over to get a better look at the bone - and the other bones.

"Your powers of observation and deduction put my humble ones to shame. If you like, I could take a moment to try to figure out what nature of healing magic flows through this, but that might better be a task for this evening."

He roots about in the rest of the pile to see if the bones resemble those of a person.

[Scholar23]

"Well" Gasped Fudow "that was fun, anyone have somethin to patch me up?" Breathing slightly ragged he went to see if he could recover any of his darts. Finding the few that he does he pulls out the few he had stored away from his pack.

OOC
search [roll0]
not sure if there is any to be found, but just in case.:smallbiggrin:

[Toliudar]

Reid

Glancing up from examining the bone, Reid nods.

"Oh! Oh yes, of course. Come over here, please."

He lifts his hand in preparation for offering the soothing energies of Pelor.

Cure Light Wounds for Fudow: [roll0]

[Rendel Nep]

Melov hops down and looks to the others to see what's going on and make himself useful. can i help? he asks.

[Quakes]

No magical traps that I can see. Someone want to try the door?

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt opens the doors, ready for a fight. Kurt moves to the doors and tries to open them.

[Archwizard]

Kurt walks up to the doors and pushes them open with ease. They reveal a pitch black corridor, 10' wide with a 15' ceiling. 20' into the tower a four-way intersection can be seen. Not much can be seen beyond that since the sun does not shine directly into the tower.

[Toliudar]

Reid tucks the wand into his boot for the time being. Perhaps he and Anise could consult on its proper functioning in the future. Pulling out his mace and glowing sphere again, he walks over to the doors, ready to back up the seasoned warrior.

[Archwizard]

As Reid walks up behind Kurt, Reid's light reveals that approximately 30' after the intersection is a pair of doors, one on each side of the corridor, that appear to be open.

And with that folks, I gotta go sleep. Be back in like 6-8 hours.

[Vendarien]

Anslag gets a second annulet ready and pears into the hall.

[Archwizard]

Anslag peers down the hall, but doesn't see anything but black walls, the intersection 30' in, and the doors 60' in.

Is someone else gonna apple into the hall?

[Quakes]

Anise sends some lights dancing down the hallway, letting one each go into the open doors and the other two stop 30 feet past. She walks into the tower carefully, wary of anything that may come her way, but confident that her spell will protect her for a little while longer.



probably a couple minutes left on mirror image? lasts for 6 min total.
cast dancing lights.

[Rendel Nep]

Melov walks in, following the others, now somewhat wary of the dangers present. i hope this won't be too much trouble... He quitely remarks on guard for approaching zombies.

[Scholar23]

Fudow looking about nervously decides it would be best if he would disapear for a while and keep a watch out for any surprises. Fallowing quitely, far behind the others he began to look about. Mummering "What a grand way to start, next there will be dragons in the cupboard." as he looked into each of the shadows


OOC

Will fallow behind everyone esle by 20 feat
Stealth:
[roll0]
Spot:
[roll1]

[Archwizard]

The lights from Anise's spell travel down the hallway, revealing another four-way intersection about 60' after the first one, with another set of doors, apparently closed, immediately beyond. The corridor continues into darkness after that.

As the group begins to move inside, the distinct smells of death and decay reaches everyone's noses.

re: Spell, 2 minutes sounds about right.

I am way too tired to edit a map pic and put it up tonight, I'll get to that at some point tomorrow.

To review:
Front door. 20' corridor north. 4-way intersection. 20' corridor north. 2 open doors, east/west sides of 10' section of corridor. 20' corridor north (50' total from 4-way), another 4-way intersection. Then 2 doors, again 1 east, 1 west, both closed. Then darkness north.

At the moment, I'm assuming that no one has actually gone into the 4-way intersection yet.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid heads down the hallway to the intersection, globe in his left hand and mace in his right. He felt a familiar tightening in his guts. The undead were close now. He could feel it. He glances left and right as he gets to the intersection.

[Quakes]

As they say, left leads to treasure.

[Vendarien]

Anslag walks up next to Reid and pokes at the floor down the left hall with his stick to make sure it is safe.

[Toliudar]

Reid

The priest nods back at Anise, recognizing the wisdom in her words. Besides, when there were no obviously better options, it made sense to establish a pattern that ensured that nothing important was missed. Once Anslag and Melov were safely beside him, Reid headed off to the left, to look at the first of the doors. He kept a pace that allowed Anslag to maintain his probing and tapping.

[Archwizard]

The group proceeds down the left corridor with Anslag prodding all along the way, it's slow going but the group makes it to the first door. The door is to the left and it stands open. The corridor extends 5' beyond the door and then turns to the left. Straight ahead is a closed door.

From the doorway to the left, everyone but Fudow hears a slight rustling sound.

Man, Fudow's the only one that couldn't beat a DC 9.
Due to the extra care taken with the probing, Anise's spell has expired.
Since Anslag's probing didn't start until going down the left corridor, I was so tempted to throw a trap into the intersection. But I figured that'd be too mean.

[Rendel Nep]

i hear rustling. i don't remember any windows. maybe it's spirits? Melov asks in hushed tones.

I'm going to assume Melov knows the correct generic term after Reid pointed the distinction repeatedly.

[Quakes]

Anise inconspicuously moves so that the large monk is in between her and the source of the rustling as they continue towards the suspicious sounds.

[Scholar23]

Fudow walked slowly behind the party as he constatly looked behind them.
He would pasue for a moment and listen to the steps of his fellows as he tried to hear anything unusal.

OOC
Spot check for anything behind us
[roll0]
General listen check
[roll1]

[Toliudar]

Since he was already holding the light, Reid stepped around the corner to see what might be making the rustling noise.

[Archwizard]

As Reid steps around the corner, he sees a room that is 20'x50' with 8 beds lined up, four on each of the north and south walls. Each bed has a small footlocker at the end. There's a fireplace in the corner, unlit lanterns on the walls, and empty weapon racks between the beds.

Standing the room, shuffling about a little bit, are two mummies.

{table=head]Initiative Order
{table=head]Name|Roll|Order
Melov|[roll0]|4
Reid|[roll1]|6
Fudow|[roll2]|7
Anise|[roll3]|2
Anslag|[roll4]|5
Kurt|[roll5]|1
Mummies|18|3[/table][/table]

Reid and the mummies get to go in the surprise round.
Need a DC 16 Will save vs. Mind-Affecting Fear Affect from Reid.
Map might take a couple hours.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid sees the pair of mummies, and a familiar churning takes over his guts. Yes, this place was indeed crawling with the walking dead. Or, possibly, walking with the crawling dead. Regardless, they must be stopped.

"Mummies. Two. Don't get too close."

Terror and despair filled him. How could they possibly fight such ancient and terrible creatures?

Knowledge check to identify, but I'm assuming he's more or less familiar with them: [roll0].

5' step to either AY21 or AY22, to give others room to move in as desired.

Free action to turn undead. Turn check: [roll1] = 10 max hit dice effected. Total dice affected: [roll2] x 1.5 = 22 hit dice turned.

Move action: set down the globe in order to take a two-handed grip on his mace.

[Archwizard]

Reid gives his warning and goes to turn the mummies when a feeling of absolute despair overwhelms him, paralyzing him in place.

Well Reid is out for 4 rounds unless someone removes that paralysis. We'll see how often I wait for Toli to post then remember.

I choose to adjudicate it as above for the simple reason of allowing the others to be warned that mummies are in the room. Technically, with the post as written, nothing would have happened.

[Archwizard]

The mummies shuffle forward towards Reid, intent on smashing him to bits.

Reid - Knowledge.
Mummies are cursed dead, still wrapped in burial vestments. Those wrappings tend to be very dry and brittle, making them vulnerable to fire. The curse that causes a mummy to walk the earth can be inflicted upon those they touch, causing a horrible cursed disease called mummy rot. Bringing back those that die of mummy rot is exceedingly difficult. They tend to resist weapons, and cause fear in those that see them.

It's too bad you can't talk while paralyzed.

The new map is up.
Anyone that sees the mummies needs to make a DC 16 Will save vs. Mind-Affecting Fear.

Anyone that makes a DC 20 Knowledge (Religion) check gets the same info Reid did.

So, everyone is up, but unless Reid has a silent&still spell, I bet he isn't doing much.

Round 1 Start.

[Rendel Nep]

REID? Melov calls out. oh no. let me through he barges past the others to get to the front of the doorway to where Reid is facing. Blind to the danger, he bodily lifts Reid and hauls him from danger.

Move to the door, Lift Reid up, move him back down the hallway.

Will save[roll0]

[Quakes]

Anise steps to the space Reid and Mel vacated.


cast light on a pebble
will Save
[roll0]

attack if will save succeeds.

scorching ray
[roll1]
damage
[roll2]



edit: unfortunately, she wasn't quite prepared for the horrifying visages her light revealed, and she momentarily froze in terror.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt gets out his mace, and readies for for a fight.

[Vendarien]

Seeing Anise freez up anslag steps in and tries to pull Anise out of the way of the door and danger.

immediate action activate my sepulcheral vest
move to Az,22
str ch to move Anise out of the door way [roll0]
than turning to the room
will save [roll1]

[Scholar23]

"Great" Fudow said as he look at the group "Does anyone mind telling me whats going on in thier?" he continued as he walked forward withdrawing two daggers from his belt.

OOC
Move to 26
Draw two daggers

[Archwizard]

Anslag moves up and moves Anise out of harm's way. As he turns to the mummies, a wave of despair washes over Anslag threatening to overwhelm him. Suddenly, the sacred power of Anslag's vest fills his heart with bravery and he wards off the despair.

The mummies move forward and attack Anslag. However, Anslag is just too dexterous for them and manages to avoid both blows.

Mummy 2 and Anslag have cover relative to each other.

[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]

[roll6] [roll7]
[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]

Any hit by a mummy requires a DC 16 Fortitude save.

So, I forgot to actually roll mummy init before this, the blocks are
Kurt, Anise
Mummies
Melov, Anslag, Reid, Fudow.

For this next round, I will count Anslag's action as coming either before or after the mummies at Vend's choice.

{table=head]Paralysis Meter
{table=head]Name|Status
Reid|3 Rounds
Anise|2 Rounds
Anslag|Immune
Melov|Immune
Kurt|No Save Yet
Fudow|No Save Yet[/table][/table]

Round 2 Start.

[Quakes]

mmmmph...mmmmmph...

Anise struggles against her paralyzation, equal parts terror at the mummies and anger at her own weakness.


was kinda hoping one of my 0 level sorc spells had no somatic components. no dice, lol.

[Vendarien]

After avoiding the mummies swings Anslag jumps back from the door and lets loose a few annulets. Mummies!

5 foot step AY,22
Attack 4 annulets
[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]

[Vendarien]

Crit confirm on 4th annulet [roll0]

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt tries to switch places with Anise.
Strength Check [roll]1d20+4[roll]
Then he moves to to attack this foe.
Move to AZ22 and one attack.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Yog-Sothoth]

Sorry about that
Strength Roll
[roll0]

[Archwizard]

As Anise struggles, Anslag's annulets fly, with three of them cutting deeply into the mummy in the doorway. While the mummy's flesh seems to not react as much to the damage, pieces of wrapping fall like streamers as the annulets return to Anslag's waiting hand.

Kurt moves towards the doorway, attempting and failing to get Anise further out of harm's way. He turns towards the mummy, and his warrior's resolve holds true in the face of terror. As any good warrior would, Kurt's response is to bring his mace down on the mummy's head. While the blow appears to connect solidly, it does only minimal damage.

The mummies then respond by attempting to send Kurt to an early grave. The first mummy's attack misses wildly as it actually manages to punch the door instead of Kurt, but the second mummy manages to maneuver around the wall and catch Kurt square in the chest, doing some heavy damage.

Kurt feels an evil presence attempting to corrupt him.

So now Kurt and Mummy 2 have cover relative to each other.
Mummy 2 has total cover relative to everyone else.

[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]

[roll6] [roll7]
[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]

Need a DC 16 Fortitude save from Kurt.
Won't it be ironic if he fails that with a +8 after making the Will one with +1?
Not to jinx you or anything....

Now it's time for Mel, Reid, and Fudow. Fudow's the only one left that needs to make the Will save.

[Scholar23]

Fudow seeing the creatures mummers "Mummy"

OOC

Sorry, posting this with a phone will have a computer friday, hopefully tomarrow, sorry.
Save
[roll0]

[Scholar23]

Sickened by the thought that anyone would be willing to be changed and then imaging if such a transfortmation would be forced just filled him with fury. Rusing forward he pulled out a dagger and threw it at the beast. Barly missing his friends as it edge ever closer.



Ya Nat. 20 on save:smallbiggrin:
Moved to AY 23
draws dagger
Attacks to hit [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid seethes helplessly as Melov carts him off to temporary safety. There are a dozen things that he wants to say - to apologize for being a burden, to urge the big warrior to be careful in touching these awful, disease-ridden creatures - but nothing comes out. Instead, all that he can do is reach inside his reserves of strength and offer up the protection of Pelor to his companions, who feel the presence settle on their shoulders again.

Burning 3 turn attempts to give everyone a +3 bonus to their AC for the next minute.

[Rendel Nep]

ok, reid you're safe here. Melov gently puts down the cleric and then darts back down the Corridor the way he just came. As he does so, his eyes again briefly become glowing embers and he attempts to make a passing swipe against the mummy than has seemingly wounded his guardian's soul with his oversized Quarter Staff (Possibly a Thirdstaff, really.).

Spring attack
Spend ki for Elemental fist -lasts for 3 rounds
Move action- Move to AZ22
Attack with Quarterstaff [roll0]
Damage [roll1]+Cobrastrike [roll2]+Fire damage [roll3]
Move down Corridor to AZ19 and Stop.

[Archwizard]

Fudow's caution in making sure he doesn't hit Kurt with his dagger causes it to miss the mummy as well, and it goes sailing into the fireplace in the corner.

As Reid's aura settles over the group, Mel dashes forward and delivers a heavy blow with his quarterstaff. As the blow lands, the fires flare brighter than normal for a moment, even as the mummy seems to shake off some of the physical impact.

Marking Round 3 Start. Will update in a bit.

{table=head]Paralysis Meter
{table=head]Name|Status
Reid|2 Rounds
Anise|1 Round
Anslag|Immune
Melov|Immune
Kurt|Immune
Fudow|Immune[/table][/table]

Okay, Block 1: Kurt/Anise.

Don't forget I need that Fort save (DC 16) from Kurt.

[Quakes]

blergh, shudder, damn mummies.

Anise shakes her head, clearing out the last bit of her earlier terror, and prepares to wreak her terrible fiery vengeance on these shambling horrors.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt will do his best to stop these shambling horrors.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Archwizard]

As Anise begins to emerge from the despair that had overcome her, Kurt lands a blow on the mummy in the door, but it appears to be a minor blow at best. Kurt's a little surprised since he had thought it was a solid blow, and his second swing is thrown off by that just enough to miss.

The mummies continue their assault on Kurt as he stands in the doorway. The first mummy misses Kurt, and the second one has a hard time maneuvering around the edge of the wall.

[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]

[roll6] [roll7] Thank that cover!
[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]

Okay, Block 2: Anslag, Reid, Fudow, Melov

[Scholar23]

Furious that his shoot had missed he pulled out two darts and threw them both at one of the mummies.

Attack 1
[roll0]
dmg [roll1]

Attack 2
[roll2]
dmg [roll3]

[Rendel Nep]

Satisfied with the previous damage he dish out, Melov uses the same attack again but this time with a bit more force behind it.

Spring attack
Elemental fist -lasts for 2 rounds
Move action- Move to AZ22
Power Attack with Quarterstaff [roll0] Confirmation [roll1]
Damage [roll2] + Cobra-strike [roll3] + Fire damage [roll4]
Move back to AZ19 and Stop.
OOC running in bit of a loop here
Edit satisfied to know that even without power attack I still wouldn't have hit.

[Archwizard]

Reid struggles with the despair that is gripping him, and that struggle is paying off. He is heartened as he sees weapons from his allies hitting the mummy repeatedly.

Fudow and Anslag continue their ranged assault on the mummy. One of Fudow's darts lands solidly in the mummy's chest, but it appears to have no effect. Anslag's annulets whirl through the air. Two of them cut into the mummy while the other two miss. As Anslag reaches into the air to reclaim his annulets, he looks with satisfaction at the mummy in the doorway. The party might not be dealing large amounts of damage, but that mummy is clearly almost destroyed.

Melov moves around and attacks with the grace only a monk can achieve, but in making sure he isn't hit by all the flying weapons, he fails to connect with the mummy.

Pretty much doing what Vend did last round.

[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]

Round 4 Start.

{table=head]Paralysis Meter
{table=head]Name|Status
Reid|1 Round
Anise|Immune
Anslag|Immune
Melov|Immune
Kurt|Immune
Fudow|Immune[/table][/table]

Okay, Block 1: Kurt/Anise.

[Quakes]

Move to AY 21
Attack roll on mummy 2
firing into melee at -4
[roll0] to hit touch AC
damage
[roll1]



Finally able to move, Anise fires a flaming ray out of her palm, but is still trying to gain her balance, and her ray goes wide. she curses under her breath.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Kurt looks at the mummy with disdain, determined for this attack to be more effective than the last.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Archwizard]

As Anise's shot goes wide, Kurt attacks. His first swing just misses, but with the second one he brings his mace down on the mummy in the doorway. As it crashes into the mummy's head the mummy collapses and turns into a pile of dust.

The other mummy shuffles over to the doorway to get a better angle at Kurt. The mummy then slams Kurt hard in the chest, staggering him a little bit. Once again Kurt feels himself being assaulted by an evil force.

The mummy is 5' stepping. No AoO for you, 1 round!

[roll0] [roll1] Forgot to note this was vs. AC 26.
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]

Need another DC 16 Fortitude save from Kurt.

Go block 2.

[Vendarien]

Anslag Releases a barrage of annulets to slowly ware away at this poor souls animated body.

Full attack using trick palm throw (throw 2 weapons with 1 attack roll)
[roll0] [roll1] [roll2]
[roll3] [roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7] [roll8]
[roll9] [roll10] [roll11]

[Rendel Nep]

Melov continues his deadly dance of dispatching because Kurt won't get out of the doorway.

Spring attack
Elemental fist -lasts for 1 round
Move action- Move to AZ22
Power Attack with Quarterstaff[roll0] Confirmation [roll1]
Damage [roll2] + Cobra-strike [roll3] + Fire damage [roll4]
Move back to AZ19 and Stop.

[Toliudar]

Reid

The moments of terror and helplessness seem to stretch out to days, but finally, Reid is able to master his fear and move again. He had been forced to watch Kurt take blow after punishing blow, but now, finally, there was something he could do about it.

Stepping up next to the rugged warrior, Reid gestures with the sun symbol on the end of his mace. There is a pulse of light in the barracks room. Reid begins another healing prayer, this time for Kurt.

Sorry. Thought I was paralyzed one more round. I forgot that I froze up in round zero.

Move action: go to AZ23.

free action (quicken turning): turn undead, using the simple variant from PH2 to deal [roll0] damage, will save DC 18 for half.

Standard action: if the mummy is still up, Reid will convert Divine Insight into Cure Moderate Wounds, risking not casting defensively (currently AC 20), to heal Kurt of [roll1] points of damage.

[Archwizard]

Anslag throws a barrage of annulets at the mummy, making sure to avoid slicing Kurt. Two of the weapons cut the mummy, continuing to wear it down.

The annulets return to Anslag' hands as Melov continues to use his superior mobility to dash in and land a powerful blow before springing back to his position in front of the closed door.

Reid steps up and summons the power of Pelor to send the mummy back to its grave. The mummy is burned by the radiance of Pelor's power. The group sees the mummy attempting to resist, but it is overwhelmed, turning to ash.

Fudow sneaks forward through the falling ash, hiding behind the bed in case more are inside.

Okay, so Anslag takes a -4 for firing into melee (I'm sure I forgot to account for this earlier, guess who has two thumbs and doesn't care to go back and figure it out).

[roll0]

[roll1]

No CMW since that was a conditional action with the condition not met.
Stupid Fudow stupid no light.

No bad guys to be seen, anyone can go.

[Toliudar]

Reid

It's hard to see the blush of humiliation behind Reid's dark complexion, but his colleagues are sure from his slumped shoulders that they're there.

"I'm, I'm so sorry, everyone. I just froze up. I, um, I. Is everyone all right?"

Noting that Kurt's breathing is more than a little laboured, he places a gauntlet on the big warrior and offers what healing he could. Then trots back out into the hallway to pick up his fallen glowglobe.

I might as well go ahead with that cure moderate wounds - it looks like he needs it.

[Quakes]

Once the globe is back in hand and lighting up the now mummy-free room, Anise will scan the area with her magical sight, hoping to find whatever it may be that the mummies were protecting.

I should apologize as well. I was not prepared to face those horrors, and proved less than useful even when I regained control of my body. I will strive to prove less incompetent in the future.


cast detect magic, scan room. and hell, let's go ahead and cast mage armor, since I bet I will need it at some point and it will last for 6 hours.

[Archwizard]

Anise scans the room, but sees nothing magical. The furniture in the room is all well-worn and nothing of value stands out.

[Rendel Nep]

it's ok. you weren't scared of the spiky kitties or the vines. that fight wasn't the same and... it wasn't in the open. Mel says attempting to comfort the pair.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid gestures toward the formal arrangement of multiple beds, and the empty weapon racks.

"Interesting. This was, presumably, a barracks for guards staffing a front gate. Except that if you were a necromancer raising a tower full of undead, why would you need beds? So perhaps this whole tower was built for some other purpose, or else was moved here as a whole for some reason."

He tries the latch of one of the footlockers.

[Vendarien]

Anslag begins searching the room for any signs of Sir Kramer.
Why would a necromancer choose this tower in particular?

[Archwizard]

Anslag searches the room, but everything in here appears to be old and unused.

While Anslag is searching, Reid walks over to the closest footlocker and lifts the latch. The latch is a bit rusty, but with a minimum of effort, Reid is able to open it up. Inside the footlocker are old, yellowing clothing.

[Scholar23]

While the others poked around the room Fudow went out to the doorway and looked outside it in both directions. Wary of any sound he began to scout out to the left as far as he could saftly see.

Listen check [roll0]
Spot Check [roll1]
Search Check [roll2]

[Toliudar]

Anslag begins searching the room for any signs of Sir Kramer.
Why would a necromancer choose this tower in particular?

"An excellent question. He seems to have abilities beyond the simple commanding of the undead, extending to power over the land, and trade as well. Perhaps this tower is some sort of seat of power."

He points to the clothes in the locker.

"You see? There had been people living here."

[Rendel Nep]

Melov for the sake of looking busy decides to look under the beds for anything shiny and/or important.

[Archwizard]

Melov finds a couple old boots and a belt buckle (that is sort of shiny), but nothing of interest.

[Rendel Nep]

Melov holds up the belt and looks hopefully towards Anise. are these any good? he says waving the belt and holding up the boots.

[Quakes]

No, there is nothing enchanted in here, save what we brought with us.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid gently closes the locker and lifts his ball of light in order to take a final look around.

"We've already fought some fearsome creatures, and my healing magics are somewhat constrained, but I am feeling well enough to continue, if everyone else is. May I suggest that we continue along this hallway, and see what's around that bend?"

[Rendel Nep]

Melov puts the boots and belts where he found them. He nods at Reid's question and stands by the door ready to go wherever.

Edit: Nodding affirmative.

[Quakes]

Not seeing anything important here, Anise ushers the party out of the room to continue down the hall (making sure the man with the light is in the lead...) :smallsmile:

[Toliudar]

Reid

I thought that we'd talked about a very different marching order OOC, but I've started off the last two advances, so here goes.

Holding mace and orb aloft again, Reid turns the corner and leads the way southward.

[Archwizard]

The corridor south leads only 10' before turning west. It then extends west 50' before turning north.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Reid, I still seem to have wounds from earlier. Would you mind mending me a little more? I think those mummies will not be our last strong opposition.
Kurt's hp is at 25/48, which is less than he comfortable with.

[Quakes]

Anise casts a light spell on a stone and hands it to Fudow.

In case you want to scout ahead again, this may help. Should make traps easier to spot too. :smallsmile:

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid nods. It was hard to tell how Kurt was actually doing, under all that armour.

"How's this?"

He again pulses briefly with light as he sends a healing touch towards Kurt.

Burning Circle vs Evil to give Kurt [roll0] back.

[Rendel Nep]

Somewhat bored now, Melov does some hopscotch as he follows the group, making the occasional *Thump* when he hits the ceiling of the corridor.

[Scholar23]

"Thanks" He said as he smiled "excuse me, now I believe it's my turn to take lead". Deftly dodging around them he moved ahead of the group and began to search for the signs of any thing that would sinify the signs of a trap. The light lit the hall quite brightly as he pick at the floor and look at the walls crevices and cieling.


About ten feet in front of the group the entire time he is sreaching in case he accidently sets off a trap, most likely able to aviod any hitting the group this way:smalltongue:
Search [roll0]

[Vendarien]

Anslag remains in the rear glancing behind them on occasion to make sure they are not being followed.

[Archwizard]

The corridor extends 20' north, then turns east. After 30' it turns north. 20' after the turn north is a door in the east wall, and the corridor extends into the darkness beyond that.

Nobody sees or hears any signs of activity as the party moves along.

No updated map atm, not on the maptools computer.

[Rendel Nep]

so where are we going now? we already passed two doors.Melov asks, still eager to battle.

[Quakes]

True, but if there are undead inside, they probably aren't smart enough to open the doors. We can deal with the ones roaming around, then sweep back for the room guardians afterwards.

[Rendel Nep]

ooooh, OK. Melov nods, now understanding what's going on.

[Toliudar]

Reid

Reid nods.

"I agree. I think that we should follow the corridor a little further, anyway. It might loop around to the other corridor, and that would be useful information. Shall we?"

[Archwizard]

The group continues another 70' north down the corridor, on each side of the corridor about 10' is a door, and the corridor continues 20' more before turning west. Just after the turn on the north wall the group can just make out another closed door.

[Quakes]

Anise keeps her senses alert, actively listening for anything that could be going on behind the door as they walk along, reciting spells in her mind to fling at a moment's notice in case of an enemy appearance.

[Scholar23]

Fudow stopping at the frist door to his right begins to search around it and the ground about it. Looking for any signs of a pressure plate or wire to giveaway the signs of a trap.

Search [roll0]

[Archwizard]

Fudow sets about searching the doorway, but seems to be having a very hard time with it. He actually manages to bang into door a couple times, making a fair bit of noise as he does so.

Suddenly, an apparition appears next to Fudow, "You seriously expect me to believe you won the bet you ham-handed fool? Look at you blunder around. Seriously, make some more noise why don't you? I'll help, HEY ANYONE, WHAT'S UP WITH THIS DOOR? Unbelievable."

[Quakes]

Not seeing it make any threats, Anise examines the apparition.


knowledge (+8) and spellcraft (+13) please


Yes...those doors can be tricky...

She seems to be probing the apparition, to see if it is a ghost, or perhaps a projection, and if so, whether or not the maker can see and hear them.

[Scholar23]

"Gods in the hells, I won the blasted bet..... now go find yourself a hole and go bury yourself." Fudow muttered as he poked his hand through the ghosts chest. "How do you expect me to concentrate if you keep popping up when I'm trying to work?" Returning to the door he listened to it hopeing that they were not heard.

He has'th come forth'th :smallbiggrin:

[Archwizard]

Fudow finds and hears nothing.

"Won the bet my ass." The apparition floats about muttering some more.