The Grinning Snake Group 1

[Exeson]

It is early morning; the sun has begun to poke up over the horizon as you begin your morning routine. Some of you many have a quick shave, perhaps buy a quick meal from the man on the corner, nothing too special. Well, not yet anyway. You begin to work your way through the slums that cover most of the western side of the city, even sprawling past the city walls. The streets begin to full up with people as the sun rises above the spires of the Palace and your shadow shortens. The general din of the city reverberates in your ear, people selling their wares, greetings and farewells all join together into one noise.

The air is crisp, there is not a cloud in the sky, you can see frost on the edges of the windows and your own breathe in front of you, ‘Dragon’s Breathe’ they call it, something to do with difference in heat and water, you never really worried about that sort of thing. You make your way to the docks, men are already working hard unloading ships and running up and down the massive jetty jutting out into the bay, the Block they call it. You take a left and enter a small square, in the middle is a simple fountain; a group of children are drinking from it as you head towards the Rejoicing Sailor Tavern. You enter the building and despite the fact that it is still early the inn is already filling up with men, keen to spend the money they earned on the night shift. You walk over to the barman, a short squat man. You enquire about a man called the Grinning Snake, he looks hard at you for a second, as if appraising you before showing you to a room in the back.

“Wait here,”

He says simply and closes the door as you sit down at the table. Some people may have already arrived or perhaps you are a morning person and like to get somewhere in good time. Either way the room slowly fills up until there are three people sitting around the table with you. The barman enters again.

“He will be with you shortly, please be patient, please feel free to converse among yourselves whilst you wait”

[Barbarian-Wizard]

Trevor

A black cloaked man enters the bar. His cloak hides most of his features except for the clinking of a chainshirt, and the hilt of a blade pushing on the fabric. His face is clean shaven, and a few strands of black hair crawl down to his brow. His brown eyes scan the room , and he approaches the barman, inquiring about the "Grinning Snake".

Trevor enters the room that the barman guides him to and takes a seat, the first seat, being the first one in. Saying nothing further to the barman, he leans back comfortably, though his hand under the cloack rests closely to the hilt of his blade. He pondered over his situation.

I never like being the first in a room.. for all I know Ill be the only one and this is some trap.. damn

[Duke of URL]

Galan

A young, slender man enters the room, looks around briefly, and chooses the chair that exposes his back as little as possible to a doorway. He appears to be quite handsome and charming, but in a very nondescript way -- you'd doubt you'd be able to accurately describe him five minutes after he left.

Never show them your true face, even if you trust them. And I don't trust anybody.

"Good morning!" The sound is pleasant, and slightly uplifting, although the eyes still seem to be appraising the cloaked man. Galan drifts off into humming a simple, but catchy tune.


[roll0] -- minor features altered, such as hair color, a small scar or two, shape of the ears and nose, etc.
[roll1] -- no particular reason, just to see how good the song is.

[Barbarian-Wizard]

"I'm to assume you're not the host then eh?" Trevor responds calmly. "Seeing as how we're likely waiting for the same person, you will likely be someone I'll be seeing often.. so I suppose introductions are in order.. you can call me Trevor then." Trevor stares at Galen, waiting for a response.

[Duke of URL]

Galan

"Hmm. Yes, well, I hope you'll understand that I'm not particularly eager to share my name with a stranger. You may call me what you wish, I'm sure I've answered to worse," he says with a smile.

[Barbarian-Wizard]

Trevor sneers and responds coldly, sounding a little angrier with each few words. "I will call you paranoid. What could I have done with a name, seriously, in a city of this size? You assume I care what name you gave me? An alias would of sufficed, but you had to go and try to make a fool of me." Trevor adjusts his seating to be sitting up straight, giving Galan a glare, but then he smirks exhales, and calms down, turning his gaze back to the door.

[Pink]

Serric

The last to arrive is a young man, seeming quite thin but what remains is all muscle, one living in lean circumstances. He has stubble about his face and his hair is long in need of a haircut and slightly greasy. He wears no shoes, just the clothe wrappings on his feet, and his pants and shirt are simple wool. However, since it's still quite chill in the mornings near the docks he has a thick blanket over him like a cloak, that must conceal a small backpack worn on his back. Though he movements are silent enough to cause no extra noise, it can be noticed through a hole in his shirt that there is chain mail beneath, and as he enters for a moment the blanket moves enough to show a short sword on the left and right of his belt. As he enters he stares coldly at the two who had already arrived.

"Rich...well fed...don't seem like the types to join a gang, and they aren't this snake guy either...What if they're from the town guard? I never should've shanked that guard the other day, it was still too open there."

Slowly, watching both of them, he takes a seat that is both a fair distance away from them and as close to either the door or a possible exit (Window, backdoor) as possible. His hands drop from holding the blanket around him to his sides, quite close to those short swords.

[Exeson]

After a few minutes of silence the tension becomes almost unbearable. The distrust in the room is thick enough to cut with a knife and sell as cheap building material. Slowly the door opens and in steps a man dressed in a red overcoat and red brimmed hat. He is of average height and slender build, his black hair is slightly messy and goes down past his shoulders. The most striking thing about him is his face, it is very angular, as if it had been hewn from stone.

"Good Morning," he says very cheerfully and walks towards an empty chair. As he is about to sit down he pauses, "only three?...Well, we shall make a start anyway."

He sits down smoothly as the barman walks in carrying a jug of water and some glasses which he sets down on the table. He gives a short bow to The Grinning Snake before exiting. The Grinning Snake, sensing the tension in the room smiles, "No need to be so suspicious, if I wanted you dealt with I wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of dealing with the guards who were waiting outside," He says with a smile, whilst looking at Serric.

After a pause he speaks again, "Well, seeing as I don't like to be interrupted we might as well get any questions you have out the way first before getting down to business, ask away" As he says this he pours himself a glass of water but instead of drinking it he holds his hand over it and slowly a snake pokes its head out of his sleeve and dips its mouth in the glass.

[Barbarian-Wizard]

Trevor watches the Grinning Snake carefully as he talks, and raises an eyebrow at the mention of the guards outside. He begins to become less tense as he speaks, his sword hand becoming less twitchy. He then sits up straight and speaks clamly. "I have a few questions I'll want answering. First, how large of an organization are you running, I also heard you say only three so Im wondering how many you expected to show up here. Another thing, if we do work here, will we immediately have direct enemies? I of course understand that rival gangs and the town guard are naturally.. our enemies, but are there anyone who have their sights aimed specifically at you? Also, whats our cut of whats drawn in. Lastly, who are these people around me right now, and why have you become interested in them?" With his last question Trevor sends a frown towards Galan. Trevor then looks back to the Grinning snake, waiting for either the next questions, or the Snakes response.

[Pink]

As the leader of the meeting enters, Serric slowly takes his hands away from his blades. He tries to keep his eye looking at everyone gathered at the same time and his expression doesn't really change, even at the mention of the town guard nearby. He stays silent, though some of the one man's questions echoed with his own thoughts. That one thought in the right directions...Maybe Serric could work with him. At the last question though, Serric decides he might as well answer for himself.

"The name's Serric. I don't know why I was asked to be here, but I can follow orders. And I've run with plenty of gangs in this city, for a little bit at least."

[Duke of URL]

Galan

Now that the prospective boss showed himself, Galan relaxes. Slightly. Inclining a short nod toward Trevor, he says, "as I was telling... Trevor was it?... just a minute ago, names are, well, just that. In the line of business I assume we are here to discuss, they are liabilities. Still, I suppose you must call me something, so 'Galan' will have to suffice."

He smiles broadly. "My talents lies in persuasion, coercion, and infiltration. If you need to obtain -- or impart -- information, I'm your man. If you're just looking for some muscle, I'm afraid you've got the wrong guy."

[Barbarian-Wizard]

Trevor nods briefly to Galan and Serric, seeming satisfied with their answers, he then sits up straight and grins. Trevor then gives them both a glance, and speaks in his calm tone once more. " Good then. I might as well answer that part as well for myself.. I'm Trevor, and as Galan said that as muscle, he's the wrong man.. well, as muscle I'm the right man. My talent is killing. I'll admit that I haven't worked long with any gangs.. my work had mostly been independant projects. However.. I guess it turns out, working alone all the time doesn't exactly reap you the most benefits. I grew tired of the small rewards, and now I'm here I suppose, a potential sword and knife in the dark for this gang. Trevor then turns his head to regard the Grinning Snake.

[Exeson]

The Grinning Snake nods as he regards Trevor, "Very small, four, no, yes, depends on how much you make,".

It takes you a few seconds to realise that The Grinning Snake has just answered all of Trevor's questions in the order that they were asked. He then looks at each of them slowly and then sits back. The snake has finished drinking and returns back up his sleeve.

"As you all know I have called you here because I wish to create a new power in the city. Te gangs have become fat and stagnant, the city guard lazy. I aim to change all that... to mix things up a bit. To do this I require your help, you will go out and stir things around in my name. You will be able to keep most of the profits you make, as well as any power you earn."

He reaches into an inside pocket of his coat and pulls out a key and a letter. "I have arranged so that you will have a base of operations. It is quite rundown, and I would suggest shoring up the locks as a first course of action," He hands the key and letter to Galan, "Front door key and directions,"

He again reaches into a pocket and pulls out three coins and hands one to each of you. They are simple silver coins, stamped on both sides with the grinning snake emblem.

"If you wish to contact me them leave a gold coin on the gatepost outside the house. Now, we better get going," With that he gets up and motions to the door.

[Pink]

Serric

"What's in it for you? This stirring things up business." Serric asks, getting up to take a drink of water straight from the pitcher before making himself ready to leave again. He was happy enough to get another place to hide from the guard and have a steadier income, but with such a small gang and with such little motivation from the leader, he had to wonder.

[Exeson]

The Grinning Snake smiles, "Come now, you know how it works; Don't ask and I won't have to lie, all will be told in good time, just be happy for the oppertunity given to you."

[Beschoren]

Phin "spoon" emptypockets, Halfling Rougue

Suddenly you see an incredibly small halfing, almost bashing hastly trought the door. His hosrt red hair is a mess, his face marked by pressed lines, his eyes are all red and he blinks unevenly. he is breathing heavly, with a chain shirt taht was hastly donned, and a black cotton shirt above it it's all roughted up. It seems like he woke up 3 seconds ago and left his bed in a rush. he's very young, leaving you in doubt if that's is not actually a child

"Did I miss something??" he says, almost in a cry, as he keeps the motion and almost bull rushes that large man in red in front of him.

seeing that he arrived in a bad time, he tries to sneak to a close chair, quite embarassed, and pretends that nothing happened. "oh! Spoon here. Sorry I'm late, last night was just lame"he relaxes and tries to find a glass of water for him.

[Pink]

Serric

"Happy about it? We'll see about that." the young man replies to the ambiguous answer. Then, seeing the door burst open, Serric instinctively drops his hands from holding the blanket around him and draws both his shortswords. As the halfling enters he raises them and is about to move forward to strike but then he holds his hand a moment. "You said...four...is this the fourth?" His tone is completely no nonsense and he gives the impression that if the answer is 'no' then the halfling's life would quickly be snuffed out.

[Barbarian-Wizard]

Trevor

Trevor had taken the silver coin, saying nothing else and had begun to stand slowly to depart until the halfling bursts into the room. His right hand draws his Longsword out, and his left wraps around the hilt and pommel below his right and the blade is angled to stand verticaly between Trevor and the Halfling. However he stands still as Serric moves in on the halfling and he waits to see what will happen after the Snake answers Serric's question.

[Beschoren]

Phin "spoon" Emptypockets, halfling rougue

ops...
the halfling coils back in the chair, letting go a strange smile
"Annn...Nice, sharp swords you guys got"

Now that you can see him better you notice several daggers atached all over his belt, arms and legs, as well as empty slots for more daggers. His eyes are wide open, looking everywere at once, as if trying to find another exit.

[Exeson]

"The weapons will not be needed... just yet" says The Grinning Snake, with a wave of his hand. "He is indeed your fourth member and as much as I would love to give you time for introductions we should be going. Now."

He quickly steps through the door and walks briskly across the Tavern to the door, motioning you to follow. "Now, I will give you some time to get comfortable in your new base of operations, perhaps even obtain a little funding, before I contact you with your first assignment. Kindly fill in Spoon for me about the details... well... as many of them as you know. Now come" He motions towards the door and slips out.

[Barbarian-Wizard]

Trevor

Trevor frowns slightly, and returns the blade to its sheath. He follows the snake out the door. "Might as well leave.. if the boss bit a few guards, then we can't stay here a moment longer. Halfling, follow.. and don't startle us again, Gods.. next time my knife will be whistling through the air.." Trevor says harshly, pulling his cloak snugly around himself, hiding as much of himself behind its black cloth as much as possible, quick-stepping after the snake.

[Pink]

Serric

Serric allows himself a brief smile as he sheaths both his blades and picks up the previous warmth giving blanket before following. He might enjoy this afterall if he could work with someone like Trevor. While Serric was just a simple thug and cut throat, Trevor seemed to be a man of the trade, professional. Someone to learn from perhaps.

[Beschoren]

phin "spoon" emptypockets

orgasmicly relived of seeing all those blades away from his face, Phin quiquily fallow the steps of the others, not sure of what's goning on nor where the'yre going nor why the rush.
mmm.. is the guy in red is the boss? looks like...

still a bit embarassed, and fallowing the footsteps: "ahhmm, so, we have a base of operations? thats sounds great! name's Phin by the way... aaahm, Spoon is my nickname, but call me however you like, I doubt I will be offended by any insult" and gives a huge smile to the guy in black cloak and large sword, whoever he is. "Oh, don't worry, next time I will just sneak in!". The halfling shut's up as he nears the bar exit

action: spot check looking for guards or something as soon as I can see the street

[Exeson]

No need for a spot check! you can see a pair of guards racing towards you, weapons drawn, barging people out the way. The Grinning Snake smiles, "I'll deal with them, you flee along the docks, just follow the directions in the letter."

With that he steps towards the men and takes a fighting stance. The two guards stop and smile at each other as they close in, swords raised. Suddenly The Grinning Snake lashes out and the the snake up his sleeve shoots out and bites one of the guards on the nose before retreating back up his sleeve.

[Barbarian-Wizard]

Trevor

Trevor frowns, never liking to run away from a fight, but deciding that this one is pointless and risky for the cover of his identity, he fixes his hood quickly and begins running away, though his eyes glance to Galan, to watch his movements as Galan is currently the direction holder.

[Duke of URL]

Galan

"Running from a fight... sounds like a good plan to me." Galan smiles, and then starts running down the indicated path. "Since I have the directions, you'd better not fall too far behind me!"

[Beschoren]

The halfling goes runnig as fast as his legs allow him to move, still dazed from the sudden wake-up-and-run-arrond"how far is that??? running in the middle of half the streets of the city may, and just may, call some attention!!"

[Pink]

Serric

"See you...Boss" Serric replies, complying with the order to fall back as the snake seems to have everything under control. Nice pet, Serric would have to look into getting one of those. He spares a moment to shove the blanket into his pack and runs with the others, his hands never to far from his blades. "Take to the alleys if the directions allow, all the better to lose them or have better odds than in the streets." He suggests to Galan.

[Exeson]

The directions are very, well, indirect, they take you on a winding course through the city. When you are nearing the end as you jog around a corner Galan runs slap bang into a city guard, nearly knocking him over.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

[Duke of URL]

Galan

Galan adopts a sheepish look. "Oh, thank goodness! A member of the watch! My humblest apologies for the collision, but my friends and I," he gestures to the others following him, "were foolish enough to try and take a shortcut through these back allies. We were accosted by a gang of thugs, but I think we were able to outrun them. I'm sure they won't dare pursue us now that we have the protection of a proud member of the city guard!"

[Exeson]

The Guard gives Galan an appraising look before frowning. "Yeh, right. Now scram before I find some reason to arrest you," With that he walks away muttering under his breath about insincerity.

You follow the final few turns and roads on the directions before you come to a very ramshackle house just outside the city walls. It is two stories high, made of wood with a thatched roof. A broken fence circles a very small garden that is overgrown with weeds. You walk through the gate and Galan unlocks the door, which creaks as it is swung open.

You enter the low door frame to see that everything is covered in a fine layer of dust. The ground floor is just one big room with a fireplace on one wall and a ladder to get to the second floor. The second floor is divided into three rooms, each with a bed which are about the only dust free objects in the building. On the mantle piece above the fireplace is a little note saying "Make yourself at home" and ten gold pieces.

[Beschoren]

Phin

The halfling is exalted and relived, as the encounter with the guard ended fine and he had somewhere to sleep now
"Great! It has a roof! Amazing!" he hangs at the side ladder. "What we are soposed to do now? I'm still pretty confused.:smalleek:"

occ: is there any furniture in the house? backdoors? I'll take 10 and search the house. Taking 20 if I have the time to spare

[Duke of URL]

Galan

"We're supposed to wait for instructions. Still, rather than sit around, we could clean the place up a bit and use the gold to get some furnishings and provisions. Let's leave the exterior alone, though, until we see what we're going to be doing here." He then starts chanting a simple tune and the dust begins to disappear.


Casting prestidigitation (1st of 3 available 0th-level spells), which by my reading would allow Galan to clean up to 600 square feet (1 cubic foot per round x 10 rounds/minute x 60 minutes) in a single hour's time (spell's duration). Will cast a second time if necessary to finish the job.

[Beschoren]

phin

"hey! that's cool!" he takes a look at the vanishing dust for some minutes, as he finished getting himself ready, puting up his hair, finish the armor donning... and then climbs upstairs.
"hummm... guys? there are only 3 beds here... and we're four..." he then stais upside down on the stairs. preety silly, but he seems quite worried that there are not 4 beds.

"oh, and what we do until we recive orders? wait? that is boring..."

[Pink]

Serric

"Four of us...three beds...Enough for three people to rest and one person to keep a watch." Serric says, giving a stare to Galan as he uses what must surely be magic. Clearly there was a reason that the boss had chosen to include this one as well.

The youth then begins to walk through the house, thoroughly inspecting it, and looking for a goos hiding spot, loose stone, floorboard, anything that might be of advantageous to hide a small but crucial object in. Just in case.

Taking 20 on search check for a total 26. Looking for good hidey holes, also for where the windows are and if there is any sort've attic or goos high ground look-out/sniping spot if need be.

After he's done his search he heads back to the ground floor and sets his pack in a corner for now. This was his gang...for now. Hopefully for longer. Best try to seem approachable. "So...the boss...Think he got away alright?" He says, picking up one of the gold coins.

[Exeson]

As the dust clears Serric and Phin discover a trap door in the middle of the floor, or at least you think it is, there is a hairline crack that is barely noticeable but there seems to be no way to open it, no lock or handle.

There is a window in the roof, which provides most of the light to the house, apart from that nothing.

however you also notice that something seems different about the fireplace, upon inspection you see that hand and footholds have been carved into the inside of the chimney.

[Exeson]

Right, unless anyone wants to do anything else today or explore the house a bit more shall we skip to the next day? (sorry about the delay, exam revision)

[Pink]

Well actually, I'd like to have some in character conversation here to get a feeling about how things are going to be done and such. These are four strangers afterall and Serric isn't exactly about to just go to sleep without Getting some amount of trust settled. However it seems no one else is here to post?
Also, I would like to investigate the trap door but I'm waiting to see if anybody responds to Serric's attempt at conversation before suddenly going elsewhere. Afterall, it is quite rude to ask a question and then go into another room before anybody answers.

[Beschoren]

PhinPhin is pretty wiling to talk off, but on the exact moment I have no creativity to say something cleaver. It would be something like "who are you guys anyway?", whit a large smile on the face

[Pink]

Well, might be simple enough to start with a response to either "Four of us...three beds...Enough for three people to rest and one person to keep a watch."

or

"So...the boss...Think he got away alright?"

Course, I've no arguments for the other one too. Be in character and such. He has to find out who the rest of us are sometime.

[Beschoren]

Phin


"So...the boss...Think he got away alright?"

"who? the guy in red hat that prevented you guys into stabing me? Well, I hope so! Never know when I'll need another peacekeeping snake-tossing redhat-wearer to save my skin! If not for him, I would have to keep runing away from you guys for hours until you we bored of the chase. And likely lose some daggers in the way. You know, I hate when they survive and run away with my daggers on the back, or when it's just a bad idea to got back and pick them up."


"about the watch guy... good idea, but I don't know we will really need that just every night. No worries! I'd love to make my bed almost inside the fireplace. Prision teaches you to find a dry spot to sleep, and rest with an eye open and the other closed. Once there was that gnome..." He narrates a sotry about a gnome that went to a soft bed early in the night and woke up naked and upside down in the back of the guards room

[Pink]

Serric

"I...see...Spoon was it?" Serric replies to the story about the gnome, not quite sure how it fits into the conversation. His face doesn't seem to show much amusement during the one-sided conversation, a little bewilderment at the way some of the comments are just tossed out, but overall a serious expression. "Well...I lay no claim on the chimney if you want it for yourself. A handy little spot, assuming we don't have a fire going. We may need to get a lantern for light then. Also...I think I saw something in this floor."

Serric moves over to where he found the hairline crack and motions for any others interested to take a look. Running his fingers along the line, he tries to find the spot where it would be pulled open from and says, "I don't suppose anyone have a crowbar handy on them?"

If the answer is no, he'll sigh and use his shortsword to try and lever the trapdoor open.

I'm assuming a strength roll. If needed he'll take out the hammer to add some extra force and such.
[roll0]
Edit: Well crivens. Serric looks like a weakling.

[Beschoren]

Phin

"oh, Spoon, Phin, Emptypockets, That-Damm-Halfling, Lichslayer, call me however you like. My poor mom used to say "phin!" but I had all manners of nicknames I almost forget who am I."

"crowbar? do I look like a vandal? I work with finesse! by the way, that remembers me of a gnome that..." he narrates another story of another gnome in prision that tried to break the prision bars using his own teeth. eventualy he managed to break one of the bars, but then fell unconscious and lost all his teeth. His halfling cellmate escaped the same night and was never seen again.

Serric's lack of joy dosen't seem to have afected him. Phin is very energetic when talking:smallbiggrin:.
take 20 on search check to find some weak spot on the wood of the trapdoor (total 28)

[Pink]

Ahh, now this is more like it. Proper roleplaying. Course I find halflings the best foils for any party when it comes to breaking the ice. Kudos to Besch

Serric

"Lichslayer?...I'll stick with Spoon. Seems you've met your share of gnomes too...They are a bit of a strange breed. Also seems I'm not the only one whose run afoul of the guard, but I haven't been put behind the stone and metal bars yet. What did they get you for?" He says, trying to assist and be assisted by the halfling in opening the trapdoor.

[Exeson]

You are un-able to move the trapdoor, Pin is also unable to find any weak spots, it seems that there is a plate of metal on the inside of the trapdoor, whoever made it definitely didn't want people to get in easily.

However, during your extensive search you realise that this kind of trap door will usually be operated remotely, usually by a lever or button somewhere inside the building.

Just to remind you Gnomes don't exist, so you can just replace gnome with halfing if you want.

[Duke of URL]

Galan

Galan just smiles, listening to the stories and banter, as he focuses on clearing the dust.

When he's done, he rejoins the others. "I think the boss will be just fine -- he appeared quite capable of looking after himself, and he seemed to be expecting the situation."

"And if he doesn't make it... well, it looks like we have a nice base of operations here for whatever we choose to do ourselves. I can only assume we were brought together in the first place because The Grinning Snake thought we had the skills to complement each other."

[Beschoren]

"Oh, it was some arguing about the actual owner of a purse... I was very young then.... my first roberry atempt, hehe...he...that was... though" for a moment Phin seems to be quite sad. likely it's a wound on his memories. but then he quickly regains his energy and smiles

"Oh don't worry - I made up Lichslayer but the folks didn't like it so much, then spoon is great! they caled me that because I used to trow spoons at the faces of some boring guys during lunch. hehehe, good times. Not when they get me however... once I had to hide from a half-orc for a week! well, I hit his eye pretty good and he became blind of that eye. My problems were over when I managed to hit the other eye! heeheh."

"the boss seems quite fit, yeah, I doubt THOSE guards will stop him. But i bet he has far more enemies... hope we are not some sort of bait"

"Oi, that trap door is quite strange... no one found a leveler anywere? maybe up the in chimney?

yeah, I remembered the gnomes does not exist after I made the 2° post... could't we just assume they are so useless they're all arrested? if not, then halfling substitution.

[Pink]

Would another search check have a chance of actually finding this mechanism since me and spoon have already taken 20 on a search of the house?

Serric

At the mention of blinding a half-orc with only spoons, Serric actually gives a crooked grin. "We'll have to ask the Snake about it if we can't find anything. By the way, my name's Serric." he says, introducing himself finally to the halfling.

"Anyway...I got enough funds for a couple days but then I'm going to need to get some money, boss or not. Might be a good chance to work as a team, plan a heist in advance. Unless you guys prefer other kind of work." He says with a look over towards Trevor at the last sentence.

[Exeson]

Now that the dust has been cleared up the place looks much better, although there are a few sneezes as it is stirred up. The sun has now reached it's highest point in the sky, or at least that is what the tolling of a bell you can hear in the distance is meant to signify.

You have searched the house, but no one has investigated the hand and foot holds in the chimney. A hint: Spoon is on the right idea.

[Beschoren]

Phin the spoon

(quick post today)
hell, he goes right up on the chimney, complaining on how dark that was, cursing the dirt that was everywere and telling that he hated onion

[Pink]

Serric

"No complaining, you wanted to check up there. And what do onions have to do with a chimney?" Serric says, only showing a slight impatience with a tapping of his foot as he watches the fireplace, waiting for the return of the halfling or something signifying that the trapdoor will now open. His stomach growls, having only had a piece of bread and an apple for breakfast in the morning, but he ignores the cry for food for now.

[Duke of URL]

Galan

"Hey, be careful up there... I just cleaned this place!" He smiles as he turns toward Serric. "Galan will serve fine as a name for me, I've used it often enough that I shouldn't forget to respond to it. I'm not quite sure what kind of jobs we should undertake... personally, I'm more in favor of, well, convincing someone to part with their gold than just taking it from them."

[Exeson]

Near the top of the chimney Phin discovers an wooden door of sorts, it swings open easily and you managed to crawl though the tight space into a hidden room. You can not see anything in the dark but some feeling around you figure that there is just about enough space for two human sized people. You discover a lever and pull it down.

The people downstairs hear a click and the trap door swings inwards, revealing a square of inky blackness.

[Pink]

Okay, Phin got the cool room :smallsigh:

Serric

With another crooked smile, Serric shouts up the chimney "Oye, good job Spoon, you opened it right up." He then begins riffling through his backpack and grabbing out a tindertwig and a candle. Putting the pack back in its corner, he lights the candle and then uses it to try and peer into the darkness of the trapdoor.

[Duke of URL]

Galan

Galan pulls out his rapier, chants softly, and touches the sword, which glows with a bright light. He then carefully lowers it into the opening to see what can be seen from the room above.


Casting light (2nd of 3 0th level spells -- 3rd of 3 if prestidigitation had to be used twice)

[Pink]

Serric

Seeing once again a demonstration of magic that produces a more brilliant light than his candle, Serric, slightly glumly, blows out the candle and walks back to return it to his backpack before returning to look into the trapdoors opening. He gives a slight mutter of "Bloody waste of a tindertwig." But otherwise seems more interested in what might be found.

Assuming I can see enough to do a search check of the room now
[roll0]

[Exeson]

As your sword lights up the area you can see there is a small room with a wall and floor of stone. There is no ladder to get down or anything and it seems like a long way down.

Duke: only 1 prestidigitation needed.
Pink: you need to first get down into the room to make a proper search.

[Beschoren]

phin the spoon

"Dammed god of hell I hate this place up here!" the halfling shouts, as a dark dust falls from the chimney to the just clened ground aound it's base "It's dark, nasty, dirty, and foul-smelling! almost remind me when my mom tried to fry onions with lamp oil!"

"ha! there is a secret room! it's mine! (leveler sound) the secret lever too! ha-ha! But We will need some light here...some light that is NOT coming from the fireplace"

I will try to explore a little more. If I find nothing, then I get back to find some light source.

[Pink]

How deep is 'a long way down'? 10'? 20'? 30'?

[Exeson]

You judge the distance to be about 10 to 15 feet.

Phin discovers a sleeping matt in the far end of the room, he also discovers a little flap in the wall that can be opened to give a view of the street.

[Pink]

Serric

"Just to interesting to not explore further." Serric says, standing up straight and rubbing his hands together a quick moment and taking a step back, before jumping into the depths of the room, landing fully crouched on his hands and knees and allowing the shock to run its course, before standing up with a slight groan, moving his neck from side to side, and then trying to give the room a search. "I might regret this if I can't find a ladder down here."

Taking the jump myself so the first (and only i think) 1d6 of damage should be nonlethal. Also, a jump check DC 15 to see if I avoid that damage anyway. Please tell me if any of my assumptions are incorrect

[roll0]

Taking 20 on search since I'm potentially stuck down here anyway. 26 total

[Exeson]

The shock jars Serric but he seems to have suffered no ill effects. Upon serching the room Serric finds nothing, the walls and floors are made of stone and any joins are sealed with motor. Tapping reveals nothing either as you are not able to find any hollow spots. There is not a ladder anywhere to be seen.

Just a note, outside of combat I'm not too fussed about the exact workings of the rules as i am more interested in your RPing and you coming up with interesting approaches to problems.

[Pink]

Serric

"Oh bugger." He curses, before looking up towards Galan. "Can't find anything down here, but it looks like we have a secure spot to hide anything we don't want others to find. By the way, you don't happen to have a length of rope or something handy do you?" He calls up, evaluating his chances of jumping back up and considering them a bit more difficult than the way he came down.

[Duke of URL]

Galan

"Ahh... rope. Hmm. Sorry to say, no, actually. Is there any in your pack? Maybe Spoon has some..." He lays the rapier down so that Serric isn't left totally in the dark and calls up the fireplace, "Spoon? Any chance you've got a bit of rope I could borrow?"

[Beschoren]

phin

"rope? well, no" he says confused "why would you ne... oh, hello mr. Serric. I guess you found your prision afterall, heh? come up at once, I'll soon try to cook somehting up for lunch. I'm starving" walks toward the table and drop some GP of his own, to calculate the rations. raises his head as he realizes the situation at hand.

"Oh right. you may need help. You're pretty brave to jump in the darkness like that, by the way. That was quite very dumb actualy, but brave. don't we have a longspear or something? that's what? a 10 feet pit? in the last case, we fill that hole with water and let him swim up."

"and oh, I found some stuff over up there. It's like a secrect watchman position with a bed. Not too fancy, but may be usefull at least as our ladies rooms ha-ha!"

[Pink]

Serric

"Ha ha, very funny Spoon. Oye, Galan, lean down a bit and reach down with your hand, I'll see if I can manage a way up to reach you." Serric says, slightly annoyed by himself. Walking to the far side of the pit, he takes a running start and then tries to half-jump, half-climb the depth of the pit and reach out for Galan's arm.

If needed.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Duke of URL]

Galan

"Well, I don't think I have quite the strength for that. I'm afraid there'd more likely be two of us stuck down there rather than the idea working. If you can just wait a while, I'll go out and get some rope, along with other supplies. It looks like we'll need some anyway."

"Of course, that light won't last for very long, so I hope you aren't too discomfited by the dark."

Galan starts adopting a new disguise to appear older and a little shabbier, trying to fit in with the tenor of the new neighborhood.


I'll take 10 on the disguise check, taking modifiers +5 for minor details only and -2 for different age category for a total of 21.

How far away is the nearest shop/market?

[Exeson]

About half an hour's walk as you will need to enter the city again.

[Beschoren]

phin

"oh boy I don't fell like leaving you in that hole for long. let's see if we can find something around"

I want to doble-check any possible improvised ladder or rope in the house and it's garden

[Pink]

Serric

Sighing with a curse, Serric sits in the hole and waits for someone to arrive with the materials to get him out of there. Not a very good first impression to the others of the group.

[Duke of URL]

Galan

Galan finishes his disguise, pockets the money, and goes shopping.

[Beschoren]

phin

phin wishes good luck to galan - no real danger in shoping for a rope (I hope). ""And bring me some onions, letuce, fish and potato."I'll make company for serric, keeping the useless conversation that dosen't actualy goes anywere but may bring a laught or two. since lunch is closing in, he talks a lot about food "Yeah, once mom burned down the meat to become so hard we saved it and user as a hammer for a month..." "no, you should never serve the fish whit the scales. they taste bad and won't let the souce get in the meat..." "..about five..." "...until it get golden yellow! amazing, no?"

once the burrowed swordman gets anoyed or stop responding, I'll chance the subject "know what? I allways wanted to kindnap someone. maybe some lowly merchant's wife could grant us some 2.000 gp?"

[Pink]

Umm, well, since Barbarian Wizard has most definitely left us, and the DM does not seem interested in moving this forward, So, is this game dead so I can stop worrying about it?