Results 271 to 300 of 531
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2020-12-10, 08:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2016
- Location
- The Old West
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
While the others gather inside, Yaj'dak takes some time to survey their position again, particularly the smoke from earlier, for prying eyes and to see if he can gather any food supplies from nearby.
Spoiler: OOC
My background ability lets me gather food and water for up to 8 people, but on the assumption that won't work since we only have a few hours of daylight left, I'll roll Survival:
(1d20+4)[5]
And a general Perception check:
(1d20+4)[21]
Avatar by linklele
Spoiler: Build Contests
E6 Iron Chef XVI Shared First Place: Black Wing
E6 Iron Chef XXI Shared Second Place: The Shadow's Hand
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2020-12-10, 08:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2014
- Location
- Washington, USA
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"The Caex hit it with stick ..." says Caex holding up the staff "... then the Caex push it through door." she finishes in a matter of fact way smiling foolishly.Caex
Monk, Way of the Psion
HP: 19/19, AC: 18
Caex thinks about it for a few seconds "Take stick, spend much time swinging stick, get good at swinging stick, then hit thing with stick. The Caex think hard 'push thing through door,' and thing fly through door."
"We hit it again. The Caex will cook for dinner.""Time is an abstract concept created by carbon-based life-forms to monitor their ongoing decay." - Thunderclese
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2020-12-11, 01:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Spoiler: OOCI'm assuming both you and Caex did some foraging while traveling. For someone who knows how to forage this forest at midsummer is not a difficult place to get food. Later in the autumn or winter it would get more difficult.
Looking around the area you find some gnoll footprints that have almost faded out by rain. You find lots of guinea pig tracks and see some more of them hanging around. They look fluffy and cute and completely without rabies. You also find a path that goes from the house toward the river down and southeast. Somebody has walked this way regularly.
Looking at the hill you find one more of the hallways that go into the hill, this one is on the eastern side. So the corridors that go in number four in total (east, west, northwest and southwest).
The plume of smoke is reasonably large in size. It's not a campfire. It's not spreading so it's not a forest fire. You suspect there's a burning building of sorts but you can't see the building itself. The source must be on the other side of the river so whatever it is, it's probably just drawing attention away from you rather than to you.
To the north behind the red column you can see the shape of a guard tower on the mountain. It's built in a way that it blends into the surrounding mountain quite well. You're pretty sure that the tower is less than a day's journey away.
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2020-12-11, 01:45 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
The woman says
You would do that? Are you the Caex? Yes, you must be. I'll light the fire for you. I'm Norma. The Caex and her hitting stick, what do you know?
Apparently the 'think push thing through door' makes perfect sense to her.
Norma seems invigorated for the first time you've seen her.
Justius says
I'm quite unwell. The arrow before and then the cursed creatures downstairs. I don't think I can take too many bites from that scaly beast.
Rodrik yells from outside.
Wait a moment! We've just got this anvil uncovered. We're just lifting it up! Would you mind, Atronia?
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2020-12-11, 05:34 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Lucia goes to check on Coatwell. The gungabide lady is looking at a pile of rocks that have haphazardly been piled on top of each other.
The pile is shaking in a barely visible way.
Coatwell has lifted one of the rocks so that one can peek inside the space under the pile. A dried up, mummified cat's paw reaches out of the small hole and tries to catch something, anything outside.
What do you make of this, Lucia?
Coatwell asks.Last edited by Smilex; 2020-12-11 at 05:35 AM.
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2020-12-11, 12:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Atronia Ambrosia
Human Fighter
AC: 12 HP: 19/22
PP: 11 PIv: 9 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
"Just a moment Rodrik, I need to deal with something in here first." Atronia replies to the call for her. Looking at Caex she says, "If it's following its training it's not likely to be rabid and if it does have some kind of disease we certainly shouldn't eat it. I'm going to see if I can pacify it." Then she looks about their gathered food for anything the pangolin might eat.
Then, low to the ground and shield held out in front of her to ward off an initial rush, she opens the door (and if she found food for it, she tosses that in). Then she tries to pacify the creature.
Spoiler
Animal Handling: (1d20+3)[13]
advantage/disadvantage if either would apply: (1d20+3)[20]
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2020-12-11, 01:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Atronia goes in. Justius points her to the right door.
Atronia throws a bit of fruit and a bird meat as a test. Seeing the creature she also immediately recognizes that this is not a pangolin despite it's mammalian nature and outer armor. This is a carnivore. It goes for the bird meat immediately and ignores Atronia. It looks pacified for a few seconds at least.
Atronia gets a better look at the room. Besides the things already mentioned, there's another door in the room that looks to go into the same room as the last door from the big central room.
So... this place has six rooms altogether. The kitchen, the big central room, two rather empty rooms, the storage room and something.
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2020-12-11, 03:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2015
- Location
- Riverdale, MD, USA
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"What do you think, Atronia? Can it be re-taught how to... do.. normal, pangolin-esque things?"
He catches a glimpse of the probably-not-a-pangolin eating the bird and ignoring the fruit. "Is... that normal? Are pangolins supposed to dot that?"Last edited by whiteflash; 2020-12-11 at 03:23 PM.
Active Chars:
Davey in City of Llywyllynn
Jean in Adventures in Artemisia
Jim in Kung's Island
Umbrasericum in Adventures of the Magic Map
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2020-12-11, 05:07 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Atronia Ambrosia
Human Fighter
AC: 12 HP: 19/22
PP: 11 PIv: 9 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
"Well, no. I don't think it's a pangolin at all in fact. It should be possible to train it to work with us, the gnolls already did most of the work for us. It's just a matter of seeing if we can convince it to work with us now that the gnolls aren't here. Go fetch me some more meat would you?" Atronia replies, keeping the shield between the creature and the way through the door.
Spoiler
I'm assuming someone in fact does get some more meat for it.
Animal Handling: (1d20+3)[15]
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2020-12-11, 05:19 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
The beast eats until it gets calm and then it goes into a corner where it stares at you and breathes heavily. It's eyes start to droop and it's soon asleep.
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2020-12-11, 05:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Atronia Ambrosia
Human Fighter
AC: 12 HP: 19/22
PP: 11 PIv: 9 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
"Well, it's calm and asleep now. Just leave the door open so it gets used to the sound and smell of us." Atronia says and then goes to help the others with the anvil.
Spoiler
Athletics: (1d20+6)[20]
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2020-12-11, 07:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"Well it's hard to really say," Lucia begins. "Seems like the cat got zombified somehow, and it's not a particularly strong or special type of undead at that.. and these rocks just look like it was meant to keep the cat pinned down in here forever. That's all, really."
She shrugs. "I guess someone had a cat, and maybe it got infected like with the ghoul rats, and they didn't want to just destroy it, so they buried it under rocks instead??" Maybe, but that explanation didn't really make sense. Why wouldn't they want to destroy it, and how could they have buried it once it was in this state.
"Or maybe it simply died and they didn't know it was infected. And this is how they buried it. Hm. Come to think of it, wasn't there someone living here that everyone went off to see?"Avatar by linklele!
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2020-12-11, 07:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Coatell asks of Lucia
Would you like to firebolt it? I can't think of a reason why we'd like to keep it alive, not dead, something.
She sighs.
Even if it's dead it seems like it's suffering. A body that dry should go up in flames fast. I wonder how old it is. Looks like it's been undead for decades.
Then she perks up
What did you mean with somebody living here?
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2020-12-11, 09:09 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Atronia Ambrosia
Human Fighter
AC: 12 HP: 19/22
PP: 11 PIv: 9 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
"Maybe if you free it, it'll go hunt the undead rats." Atronia quips.
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2020-12-11, 09:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2015
- Location
- Riverdale, MD, USA
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"Wait, what now?" Chazwick perks up at the idea of something that isn't them hunting the rats, and comes to investigate.
Then he goes back to find the old woman whose leg healed far more quickly than it should have. "Uh, ma'am? I... think we might have found your cat."Active Chars:
Davey in City of Llywyllynn
Jean in Adventures in Artemisia
Jim in Kung's Island
Umbrasericum in Adventures of the Magic Map
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2020-12-11, 09:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
For Coatell's benefit, Lucia gestures at Atronia and where Chazwick went running off to. "Apparently there's someone inside, and the others are talking to them."
"Just on the off chance they fancy this cat under the rocks, I'd rather wait to see if they know anything about it. We can always deal with the cat later."Last edited by WindStruck; 2020-12-11 at 09:26 PM.
Avatar by linklele!
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2020-12-12, 12:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2016
- Location
- The Old West
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Yaj'dak returns to where Lucia, Rikkan, and the others outside are waiting Lady Lucia, Sir Rikkan. There's a guard tower about a day's journey from here. It might make sense for our next target, once we're rested and ready. They could easily spy on or attack us from such a place, even without magic. He regards the house and the cellar in particular uneasily. I do not like this place. There are old gnoll tracks around, monsters in the basement... It will require careful planning to make it fit for our purposes.
Avatar by linklele
Spoiler: Build Contests
E6 Iron Chef XVI Shared First Place: Black Wing
E6 Iron Chef XXI Shared Second Place: The Shadow's Hand
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2020-12-12, 01:29 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
The woman looks a bit worried and taken aback.
You're feeding that pangodingo and now you're telling me that you've got my cat? Are you holding her hostage? Well I'll just sit here in my little kitchen, I won't bother you none. I wouldn't hurt a guinea pig even.
She huddles into the corner and starts to tighten up the cord in her broom.
...
Meanwhile
...
Spoiler: OOCundeadslayer hasn't been around for a few days but this is something that Rikkan would react to.
What am I hearing? We should destroy undead cats instead of letting them stay and blight this world. It might yet get loose from under those rocks
Then he turns to Yaj'dak
And brave squire! I agree that we should assault yonder tower, but not before we free the baroness. At this very moment she's surely in a terrible plight in one of the prison camps here. And we should save the castellan and his wife, and the page too - all of the people that we know were in our cart when they brought us here. They can't be far!
Spoiler: OOCThis might be a fair place to remind in a very off-game way that Atronia also accepted a sidequest from Jaime :)
Coatell shrugs and starts down the hill's southwest side
I'll go have a peek down there.
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2020-12-12, 01:34 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2014
- Location
- Washington, USA
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"The Caex knows many things, take much time to to tell it all."Caex
Monk, Way of the Psion
HP: 19/19, AC: 18"Time is an abstract concept created by carbon-based life-forms to monitor their ongoing decay." - Thunderclese
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2020-12-12, 02:08 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2015
- Location
- Riverdale, MD, USA
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"Hey, pangodingos have to eat too."
Chazwick just barely hears Rikkan trying to destroy the cat. "Uh, if you'll excuse me for a second."
Chazwick heads back to the conversation involving the cat. "Now hold on. As an undead creature itself, it'll be immune to some of the worst effects of the rats. And the lady over there said that her cat used to hunt the rats. Maybe this is an opportunity? ... If it doesn't attack us."Last edited by whiteflash; 2020-12-12 at 02:09 AM.
Active Chars:
Davey in City of Llywyllynn
Jean in Adventures in Artemisia
Jim in Kung's Island
Umbrasericum in Adventures of the Magic Map
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2020-12-12, 05:39 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Norma says
Maybe you can keep me company and tell a few of those things? Since you're not growing herds of beasts and harassing kittens.
There's a faint raising of an eyebrow and hope on her sullen face.
Meanwhile...
Rodrik asks Rikkan and Yaj'dak
Are you saying the baroness is alive? How about her twins, did you see Atronia and Lucia's siblings?
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2020-12-12, 05:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Lucia looks to Sir Rikkan with some concern and says, "By all accounts, I would say you are right. However, I just.. if this cat belonged to someone here, I feel we should talk to whoever owned it first before destroying it for good. Best case scenario is we have their blessing to destroy it."
Turning to Chazwick she nods, "That could be an idea. I have studied some magic concepts of necromancy. It doesn't appear to be an inherently evil form of magic but.. it is incredibly dangerous. There is a slim chance to actually make use of it."Avatar by linklele!
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2020-12-12, 03:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2015
- Location
- Riverdale, MD, USA
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"I think the owner's over there," Chazwick says, gesturing back the way we came. "I... think I've accidentally convinced her we're holding it hostage to ensure her good behavior. Could someone who's a better diplomat than I am please persuade her that that's not the case?"
Last edited by whiteflash; 2020-12-12 at 03:45 PM.
Active Chars:
Davey in City of Llywyllynn
Jean in Adventures in Artemisia
Jim in Kung's Island
Umbrasericum in Adventures of the Magic Map
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2020-12-12, 05:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"Um.. right. I may as well..."
Lucia makes her way inside the building with a slow gait, looking for an unfamiliar face.Avatar by linklele!
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2020-12-13, 01:25 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Norma is still cording a broom in the kitchen. She's a dirty, maybe late middle-aged woman with broken nails and broken teeth. She's got her arms close to her, making herself try to seem small.
Meanwhile...
Justius meanwhile opens the last door in the building's back parts.
Inside is a room with two stone bathtubs. One of them has a red, rusty covering on the inside. The other doesn't. Both have straw in them, they've been set up as beds. This room too has been generally cleaned.
Spoiler: MAP
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2020-12-13, 02:20 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Lucia will try to say as amiably and nonconfrontationally as possible, "Um, excuse me. I heard someone mentioned that your cat went missing?"
...
"Well, we found a cat. But it's.. rather dead, yet still moving. Undead can be very dangerous, and even if it is your cat, I don't know if it would recognize you anymore. Do you, uh.. want to take a look at it?"Avatar by linklele!
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2020-12-13, 03:13 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Norma seems slowly determined... She stays huddled while talking..
Anohter one of Caex's humans... But you found the cat. Why didn't she come back? Eight's a good cat, she would come back to her ring if she wasn't stopped. I want Eight back...
Then she starts to mutter...
Undead, what's undead?
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2020-12-13, 05:06 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Lucia blinks a bit before explaining, "Well, your cat. I don't know if it's your cat or not for sure, but it is definitely dead and mummified. It is buried under a pile of rocks and yet, it still moves. That.. that's what undead is. Dead corpses of creatures, magically animated with necromancy."
This woman really didn't know what undead was? Even with the whole rat problem in the cellar? That wasn't adding up.
insight: (1d20+4)[22]
"Ma'am, I don't mean to pry, but how long have you been living here? Are you aware of the situation down in the cellar with the rats?"Avatar by linklele!
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2020-12-13, 05:40 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
Under a pile of rocks, she says. Eight's under a pile of rocks. Is it far? Eight's a good cat, it always comes back unless someone stops it. Somebody put Eight under a rock. Must've been the gnolls. Ooh, those gnolls were so much trouble. Scary gnolls. Must clean, clean, clean.
Norma glances at Lucia.
So you say the cat's an undead? Well, would every buried thing that moves be undead? Like all of em earthworms? And the moles, rats and rabbits? Soon she'll be saying that the wyrds are undead or the talking medals. Well, undead, that's a fine word for a rabbit.
Spoiler: OOCLucia would realize that this individual doesn't have an intact mind. She's acting based on a set of internalized compulsions. She's very little visible in the dim kitchen. Seeing her facial movements would probably help Lucia in reading her better.
The woman continues
I've been here a long time with my husband. Many years. Mother gave me birth on this here hill and she's been gone a long time. The mraow took her away before the fire. What are years anyway, silly things.
Lucia opens the oven's door a little to get more light in the room. As she does this, her hand brushes against the arm of Norma. It's room temperature.
Lucia almost forgets to open the oven door but then does it.
Norma looks at the fire and tries to warm her hands.
The cellar? Is there a situation in the cellar? Did the gnolls sneak back? But the gnolls are afraid of the rats. And the cat keeps the rats in line. But Eight's gone! Where is the cat?Last edited by Smilex; 2020-12-13 at 06:08 AM.
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2020-12-13, 07:40 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Guilty until proven innocent [IC]
"No, that's not.." Lucia begins.
"Imagine if you caught a rabbit. Bled it out. It dies. Then a witch comes along and uses magic to make it move again. That's what undead is."
She wasn't sure why she was even trying to explain at this point. The woman seemed pretty crazy and... her body temperature was way off.
As Lucia backs out of the kitchen slowly, she simply offers, "Are you sure you do not want to come out and see the cat for yourself? There's no telling if this is Eight or just some other random cat."Avatar by linklele!