Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Ameena
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

Post by Ameena »

OOC - Okay then...let's see, we haaaave...11 aaand...19 :).
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

Post by beowuuf »

Ameena finds the rat creature gets in her way as she tries to move past it, but luckily it seems to get the general message and backs up to the stairs. Every moment is a tense moment where one of the soldiers could look around, but luckily the short interlude with the pain rat is a silent one.

The pain rat is finally encouraged by nudges to get back to the top of the stairs. Perhaps it is the fact that Ameena took great pains to try and treat the rat as an equal and to walk together. It perhaps doens't understand that now Ameena needs to move alone!

However, at least for the moment Ameena's companion at least seems to stay still at the top of the stairs. Perhaps it simply got worried when Ameena did not come back into view right away. Perhaps now it can see Ameena, it might take the hint!

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you - weird day at work, interesting developments with the rest, and the need to tidy up for my friend coming down. I might not be able to post anything major again until Sunday, but I mgiht be able to sneak in landing Ameena in nasty trouble.

If Ameena is goign to try and *yoink* a potion, you'll need to roll stealth to get up there, thievery to actually take the potion without the guard noticing, and then another stealth to get back.

It's quite likely to go horribly wrong. If so, Ameena could try to push the rat further back down the stairs (even to the illusionary wall) and then rush back to the room. Also, could always simply try to stealth up to the soldier, and then simply make an attack roll to *yoink* the potion then run.

Note that if the soldiers see Ameena, she might be opportunity attacked. Therefore, I'll need an initiative roll from you. Luckily, if Ameena has higher initiative, the soldiers will be flat footed and so won't be able to poke at her with their swords.

Good luck!
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Heh, the plan at the moment is to get the ratty back down and through the illusionary wall - Ameena figures that if the soldiers see them, ratty won't stand a chance so she's better off where it's safe...well, that's as long as she doesn't try following Ameena again as soon as she leaves. Meanwhile Ameena herself will then probably attempt to initiate her plan to get the soldiers to come down the stairs and be distracted by the fighting or something - probably she'll yell up the stairs and then run away through the wall and hide, hoping the guards don't know about it. Or she could just sneak straight up and try to yoink a potion. I don't know - any plan seems very dangerous right now, considering how many soldiers there are. There isn't really a safe option even if Ameena were to jut try and sneak straight past them to try and find the rest of the group. And even then she's probably just gonna find the scents leading to a closed black door ;). Then again, regarding the soldiers, Ameena doesn't know that she's two weeks in the past and so these guys possibly might not just kill her on sight. I suppose if they were to find her and she told them she was looking for her friends, she might get lucky and have them assume she's with the group and therefore let her go in case Seeroc knows about her and would freak at them for turning her into part of their barbeque ;).

BIC - Ameena continues to try to lead the rat-creature, attempting to silently persuade her to come back down the stairs. she adds in a few gestures to try and indicate that the nearby soldiers are Bad People and quite capable of killing both of them, also pointing to the wound on the rat-creature's shoulder to emphasise the point - if they're seen, there won't really be anything Ameena can do to stop the soldiers from killing them. All she'd be able to do would be to stand between the soldiers and the rat-creature and attempt to reason with them. That's very unlikely to work, she knows, but what else can she do? She continues to regret the harm she's caused the rat-creature - if she hadn't inflicted such an injury, if she'd come up with another way to stop this creature from attacking her, they'd most likely have been able to go their separate ways and Ameena would only be faced with the problem of getting past the guards in order to follow the clear scent trail left by her friends.
Meanwhile, she hopes the rat-creature understands her now. She hopes the rat-creature can now see the danger they're both in, from the presence and number of the guards, their armour, their weapons. She attempts to lead the rat-creature all the way back down the stairs, around the corner, and back through the not-wall.

OOC - So...hopefully that will work. Hopefully ratty will now stay behind. Then I have to consider which option to take from there. I have a few to choose from, but none that I'm particularly keen on because they all involve taking rather an unpleasant risk with the guards. Even if my hp were a bit more than 8/20 I'd still consider it just as dangerous - big choppy stabby pokey swords against little furry vulnerable sentient rat...not good odds ;).
I was gonna post a list here of the options i've considered so far, but it got a bit long so I'll post it in the OOC thread instead :).
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

Post by beowuuf »

Roll me a d20 for your 'bluff' roll, as you are trying some non-verbal communciation - that will determing how successully and how fast you can get the rattie to the illusionary wall.

The stealth roll you got previously means you've gotten to the soldiers at least as far as the stairs, but I did then roll a further stealth roll and perception roll for the rattie once you are decending the stairs.


Ameena gentle encouraged her companion down the stairs. It was a difficult process, for the rat both seemed interested in what was behind Ameena, and indeed in Ameena herself. Still Ameena managed to slowly push her companion backwards.

"Did you hear something?" heard Ameena suddenly from one of the soliders up the stairs. "Something from the stairwell?"

There was a pregnant pause. They wouldn't be able to see Ameena and her companion as they were already down the stairs far enough...but if they should choose to instantly walk forwards....

Yeah, rattie is good at hiding, but not as good at stealth. Good, but not fantastic yet. And the soldiers got a good roll. So yeah, maybe that forces you into a couple of options, or even helps you in your plan if you can push rattie backwards fast enough. Roll well for the bluff, or come up with a cool plan quick!
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Should it technically be maybe Diplomacy or something, and not Bluff? After all, Bluff is for deceptive purposes, surely, and Ameena isn't trying to fool the ratty into anything, just convince her that Armoured Men = Very Very Bad so therefore hiding through the not-wall where hopefully they can't find her is a Good Thing. Which is the truth. Well, I'll roll for both anyway. Diplomacy = 16 (9+7), Bluff = (bleh) 5 (4+1) lol.

BIC - Ameena freezes briefly as the rat-creature's movements cause a sound, but then relaxes slightly as it seems that the guards aren't going to follow it up just yet. She gestures more urgently, pointing back toward the soldiers, then toward the wound on the rat-creature's shoulder, then to her own wounds. Finally, attempting to make the point even more firmly, she pulls out her knife momentarily, points back toward the soldiers once more, then traces the blade across her own throat (though obviously not close enough to actually cut herself) to demonstrate what will happen to them both if they're caught. Then she puts her knife away and continues to urge the rat-creature down the stairs. She's nervous now, more so than before. What if the guards decide to come after them? Well, she supposes, that's escapable as long as they can get through the not-wall by then. From the sounds of it, they only think they might have heard a sound. It's times like this when she's glad that human hearing is so bad.
She rather wishes she had the vocal capacity to impersonate something large and fierce - that might make the soldiers nervous. Still, whatever she's going to do, she decides that she won't do it until she gets this rat-creature down the rest of the stairs and through the not-wall. If only she could make her companion truly understand the dangers they're in right now...
She supposes she could mimic the squeakings that mean words like "hurt", "pain", "fear", and such-like, and indicate the guards whilst doing so. But not right now. Not here. Not within earshot of the human soldiers.

OOC - I think ratty needs to make a decent Sense Motive roll or something, lol. I don't know how often I need to refresh my Stealth roll so in case I need to do so now...27 (14+13). If not then umm...well, just ignore that, lol.
Damn you and your putting me into awkward situations, lol.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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As I've said before, bluff is used for non-verbal communication. To be good at bluffing you need to be good at using body language, etc to make people think what you want - or to make people think you are being genuine. If you are 'bluffing' the truth, or trying to silently get across the point, then so be it! Diplomacy is actually when you can communicate on some level with the opposite person, enter into a reasonable give and take dialogue which hopefully leads to you getting the better end of the deal. Diplomacy would be the 'please don't kill me, it's better if you don't'. I'll take you dip roll as a bluff roll though so you've rolled better.

The rat was slowly pushed down the stairs, only fereezing once and gently wuffling when Ameena brandished her knife. Luckily, by that time Ameena had pushed the rat far enough down the stairs it didn't seem to generate any further comment. After that, Ameena seemed to have no trouble in pushing the rodent down, though it did keep looking alternatively nervously and hopefully to Ameena's knife as it was moved backwards.

The sound of fighting was still vaguely audible, and still from roughly where she had heard it last. The light was much tricker, luckily the illusionary wall was found by following the main wall. However, as soon as Ameena pushed her companion into the wall there was absolute darkness, as the spell blocked even the non-light minimal light from the stairwell.

There was a gentle wuffling sound fro mthe rodent, but it appeared in no hurry to move forwards again.

So there you go, you can decide if it's safe or not. After pushing it back again, it might stay. Of course, sicne you've perhaps indicated you are away to go murder the soldiers with a knife, then perhaps it will wanna come watch even if it understands what you want it to do :D

Don't blame me, blame the wilful NPCs and Ameena's contradicator messages! :p
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Heh, I hadn't thought of it like that - Ameena's messages are only contradictory because ratty took it to mean that she wanted to kill the guards, not that the guards will kill them ;).

BIC - Relying now on smell and whiskertouch alone, Ameena touches the rat-creature with a forepaw and makes some more rattish sounds, in a firm tone and along the lines of "You stay here now. Stay here. I will be back. Bad men. Creatures up there. They kill. Men want kill.". She adds in a few of the "kill-pain-fear" noises and makes it clear that she is the one who fears the guards, not that they might fear her. She adds a few more "stay" noises and tries to make herself sound a little more aggressive, as though she really means it. Well, she thinks, she does mean it - if the rat-creature tries to follow her again, they might both get caught. Maybe it's already too late - maybe these guards are so alert that they'll follow up any noise, however slight. She decides to be even more careful this time.
She starts to back away from the rat-creature, through the not-wall that she knows is behind her. The creature had better stay put this time...

OOC - So, in the hopes that ratty will finally decide to bloody well stay put this time...I think Intimidate would be the appropriate roll...hopefully even if I roll crap here, the fact that Ameena eventually won over the ratty before when they had that fight might still remain in her (the rat-critter's) memory. Intimidate to persuade ratty to stay put and wait = oohhh ffs. 1, wooo lol. So ratty isn't gonna be impressed, /sigh. Oh well, I'll see what response I get before I have Ameena head back to the stairs. If the ratty hadn't decided to leap forward and get so badly hurt in the first place this would never have happened, lol. Once again I have RPd myself into a corner when killing the ratty or just scaring her off or something would have worked just fine in terms of getting on with what I'm "supposed" to be doing ;).
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

Post by beowuuf »

Well, rattie won't be intimidated. Cause it doens't think you'll kill it, perhaps? Whether your previous rolls have worked is another matter... hopefully they did, since your intimidation is pretty dire before the 1! :D

And lol, I can crush rattie with a boulder if you like. Who knows, having a rattie companion might actually be a very, very good thing for later!


Ameena couldn't hear the pain rat reply, but of course that could be because the rat was doing its 'frozen in terror' thing again. Hopefully, Ameena hadn't been too hard on it (OCC: teehee). Still, it did not seem to be moving to follow her. Hopefully, she could now move on to the next part of the plan.... whatever that was goign to be...
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Heh, this would be so much easier if they had a better-established level of two-way communication - right now Ameena can only hope she understands what the ratty is saying. She'll be upset if ratty dies, of course, but how upset she'll be would depend on the circumstances - if she thought it was her fault, for example. Not good. I suppose she could have become slightly more "hardened" toward violence since she's kept to the memory-set that comes from her first trip through the dungeon, during which I'm sure plenty of fericious beasties met their ends, but still, she's a murafu - fighting and all that is still something she very much wants to avoid. But yes, ratty could be helpful if they come across more ratties or something ;). At this rate, Ameena will probably get past the guards and down the stairs, only to find a locked door and have to come at the room from another direction - possibly back through that door she started by, if she can figure out a way to open it, and then through some illusionary walls from there. We'll have to see, I suppose. Well, I'll have to see ;).

BIC - Ameena sighs quietly, hoping that the rat-creature will stay and wait for now. Surely all this travelling up and down stairs can't be doing her shoulder injury any good.
Meanwhile, Ameena now turns and pokes her head out through the not-wall, sniffing around for any sign of the guards. She works her way slowly, as quietly as she can, along the wall back in the direction of the stairs, keeping as alert as she can for any slight sound or shift in the air which might indicate that the soldiers have moved.

OOC - That is, assumingm of course, that the guards haven't moved during that time and actually started to head down the stairs. Obviously I'll have to alter this post if that's the case - any sign that the guards have changed position and Ameena will stop and reassess the situation ;). Soooo...Stealth = 15 (2+13...ouch), Perception = 25 (16+9).
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Well, if the muraf will abandon their rattish roots and not remember the language, and just speak common, what can one say :D

And yeah, if Ameena leaves it too long, the door might be closed. Of course, what makes you think Seeroc wants to close the door? Especially not when two of his grak-graks are standing in the small area down the dorridor now... One way or the other, Ameena doens't have to worry about getting into that room!


As careful as Ameena was, she was right to be worried about her shoulder. Perhaps it was from being too careful, at one point irritatingly on the stairs she pulled a leg just the wrong way avoiding a loose stone. It was impossible not to utter a small noise. Luckily, at least she was perfectly placed to hear the reaction.

"Hear that!" said the same voice as before, obviously the soldier thought he was hissing in a quiet voice, but Ameena's hearing was good.

"Perhaps," said the voice of the leader. However, there was no hesitation. He was conceeding a potential point. Again, the leader probably though he was being quiet as he apparently whispered to his other comrade. "Be quiet. Go over to the other two and tell them to take over here. And pull Gort back from the corridor."

One of the soldiers apparently moved with what he probably thought was stealth towards the room Ameena had observed. The fact the leader said 'take over here' implied that the soldiers were not goign to be at their positions anymore. Her mis-step had meant they were going to come down. Then again, was that what she had wanted?

Perception (1d20=20). There's no such thing as a critical success for skill checks. But there is such a thing as the soldiers rolling really well when you roll really badly! Lady Luck is telling me something.

And, you know what, to be honest it's what you wanted to happen....and your great perception roll at least wanrs you the stealth failed. So, Ameena can decide where she wants to locate to, and what she actually wants to do here. Remember the map is on the previous page, or is on the OOC thread if you need it.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Wasn't Ameena's shoulder - ratty is the one with the hurt shoulder, remember? Ameena has chomp-marks on her forelegs (and the bite on the back of her neck). Still, only a minor correction - instead of a twinge in her shoulder it can be further down the leg, where an injury is :). And I'm not worried about the map for the moment - I can remember well enough what that area of the dungeon looks like (and I have the DM guide book thingy anyway for that particular section ;)).

BIC - Ameena freezes as she hears the guards apparent plans to descend the stairs. Well, it looks like they've made the decision for her as to what to do.
She quickly, and as quietly as she can, makes her way back down and over to the not-wall. As soon as she arrives, she sniffs around for the rat-creature and makes sounds along the lines of "Quiet. Bad men coming. Pain fear ouch coming. We stay. Be quiet. Stay quiet.". She then turns, listening intently with her own senses for what will happen, remaining prepared, as she does so, to stop the rat-creature from either advancing or making any sound.

OOC - I'm not sure how it works with regard to hiding-inside-an-illusionary-wall. Can Ameena stand inside the wall and not be seen? Does the wall block sound and scent or just light? Or is it possible to stand "inside" the wall and see out because being inside it breaks the illusion until you step all the way through? Whatever the case, Ameena will position herself in whatever way she can that will allow her to follow the progress of the soldiers but remain hidden. And if the ratty tries anything, Ameena will try to stop her, most likely with the ratty equivalent of an elbow in the ribs. Which would be to put out a forepaw and gently sort of nudge her back, I suppose, if she tries to advance. Or if ratty tries to make a sound instead, Ameena will likewise try to keep her quiet whilst remaining silent herself and not moving from her positoin any further than she has to.
So...rolls that may be necessary...Stealth again for getting back down the stairs and through the wall = 21 (8+13), and Perception for listening/smelling/watching (delete as applicable) the soldiers = 28 (19+9) :D.
Now Ameena must just hope they don't already know about the illusionary wall...
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Sorry, would swear you mentioned Ameena's shoulder aswell as being a reason it was annoying to move quietly :( And heh, remember the dungeon might work a little differently now...Chaos would have made alterations if this were 'real life' instead of a computer game soon after the successful DM party succeeded on that level.

In DM standing in illusionary walls lets you see out of them, and I believe D&D is the same (like you say, just an illusion) so you can watch out. Feel free to have Ameena be very freaked out by that.


Ameena hears a little wuffle from the rat, it sounds positive as if in acceptance. It is a strange sensation standing and looking out, perfctly seeing the faint glow get brighter and brighter. However, there should be nothing ot give away her nor her companion, for Ameena's glow has long since gone, and both of them are being quiet as two rats can be.

There is a clanking audible, and two soldeirs with torches, followed by their leader (it seems) staying by the stairs.

"Sweep left, then right," says the leader."The first safe spot is to the right, but perhaps we've assumed too much."

The two other soldiers both startr walking, determinedly, twoards Ameena's position. The light gets brighter sand brighter, hurting Ameena's eyes a little as she has been getting used to the semi-darkness, and the torches are newly lit and vibrant.

It is hard to believe, as those skull-faced soldiers walk with determination, that they do not instantly spot her as easily as she spots them. Odddly, her companion - now she could see her again in the advancing light - seemed to be happily quiet, yet not frozen in fear as Ameena had observed her as occasionally being.

The light was eerie, illuminating Ameena perfectly. One soldier split off to look down - but not go along - one of the further little passageways, while the last soldier walked right up to the wall Ameena was at. As he stood there, perfectly visible to Ameena and Ameena detecting no reason she should not be perfectly detectable to him, standing right there as she was - there was a tense moment.

The soldier about turned to Ameena's left, and raised his torch to look down the corridor right beside them. He strained for a moment, looking as far as he apparently could, and looked to his companion.

After another tense moment,he about turned again with his back to Ameena, and wlaked off - still looking sideways.

The noise of animals fighting was still clear in the air, although Ameena could not tell if anything was closer than before.

"Check to the right, then," said the leader, still staying at the stairs and gesturing with his torch the other direction from Ameena. Ameena could vaguely make out the two soldiers moving down by their bobbing torches. The leader took a step and waved his torch in the direction of Ameena's side, as if double checking nothing was trying ot come down. He also looked quickly up the stairs.

There was a clanking, and another tense moment soon after as the soldiers obviously stopped to check what was happening.

"Wait, what...?" said one of the soldiers - probably the furthest - before a sudden closer snarl filled the air. His torch wobbled and fll, and Ameena would swear she saw a brown shape at the other end of the corriodor.

"What? Attack!" yelled the leader, reapeating it up the stairs and then rushing forward with sword and torch held high. "Wait, don't..." he yelled to possible the other soldiers, apparently too late there was a 'zap' sopund in the air. A moment later, further into the set of corridors, roughtly where the main noise of combat was previously happening, Ameena thought she started to hear a human's voice crying out.

There was a clatter from the stairs, and two more soldiers came down, looking left then right and then seeing the commotion. Both started advancing, but the leader's voice was heard. "Only one! Stay at the stairs!" he yelled.

One did indeed stay back as the other moved forward, and turned to yell up the stairs for presumably the sixth soldier to keep holding back.

The soldier who had come down the stairs did not block that corridor though, chosing to stand in the corridor away from Ameena with his back to her.

Well, there we go. Ameena has her chance as some more evil rattie (possibly) has spotted some edible food and decided to quickly attack. If the positioning isn't clear, I can update the map and shpw you roughly where poeple are.

Oh, I forgot to say, certainly sound can go through the wall, as in DM. The only thing deadening sounds before was corner. A perfect light source will penetrate the wall, enough to be perceived. Light from far away is dim enough that you woulnd't spot it.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - An updated map would be helpful, if you wouldn't mind :).
As for the seeing-through-illusionary-walls and stuff, I figured that Ameena would hopefully remember how they work from her encounters with them before, first time through the dungeon, so would know that she can't be seen. Otherwise she'd have hidden around the corner or something (that is, in the hidden corridor and around the corner from the illusionary wall, not around the corner of the corridor where the guards are now looking ;)).
Having re-read the post, I'm jsut working out troop numbers. So there were seven guards in total, I think? Three near the top of the stairs (one of whom was the leader, in skull-armour), two by the doorway to the fountain room, and one just along the corridor from them toward the stairwell. But now the three from the top of the stairs have come down and been attacked (or at least, one of them had), and it sounds like someone ran the wrong way in the corridor and got zapped over to the other end in the middle of the already-ensuing battle (at least that was what I gathered, which means the destination of the teleporters of the snake-path puzzle has been changed). Meanwhile the sounds of fighting have drawn two of the other soldiers down the stairs too, presumably leaving one now up there alone, though one of these last two has either stopped on the stairs or gone back up. Everyone who's come down is along the corridor to the north (on the map) of the stairs, but one of those soldiers is standing just slightly past the stair-corridor so Ameena has room to sneak past him if she wants. Do I have all that right?

BIC - Ameena watches and listens to all that's happening. She wonders what it is that's attacked the nearby soldier and decides it was probably one of her companion's people. She eyes up the soldier she can see down the corridor ahead of her and wonders whether she should risk sneaking closer and trying to grab a healing potion out of his belt. But he's on alert now - that would be so dangerous. She isn't sure she'll be able to take it and retreat unseen. But she isn't sure how much longer her companion can last - it's unfair to leave her in pain for so long. This creature might be able to help if she wasn't so injured. Maybe Ameena can grab a potion and get it to the rat-creature and heal her before the guard catches up. With his huge, long human legs. Hmm...
Ameena sizes up the distance between them. Maybe she can cross it before the soldier turns, but what if he does so before she gets there? Well, she supposes, maybe he'll turn before she's fully inside the aura of his torchlight - she might still be able to retreat. And if she leaves it too long, he might get into a fight himself. She might lose her chance - she wouldn't be able to take something from a battling soldier, surely.
Mentally preparing herself, Ameena gives a final signal to the rat-creature to "Stay", then uses all the stealth she can currently muster in order to sneak along the corridor toward the soldier. She also hopes that the one up the stairs won't decide to come back down too. Hopefully she'll be able to get past soon - he'll be her main obstacle if she can pull off this little trick well enough. She creeps closer to him, preparing herself to reach up, take the potion, and dart back as quickly as she can whilst still remaining quite - hopefully his human hearing is so concentrated on the sounds of fighting that he won't hear, or won't expect, someone to have got so close to him...

OOC - So, having scrolled all the way back up to the top of this page and re-checked what rolls you asked for before, when Ameena was facing the three at the top of the stairs, let's see how I do :D. Stealth to get to the guard = 21 (8+13). Thievery to yoink the potion = yaaaaay...31 (20+11 :D). Stealth to get back through the wall again = 26 (13+13). Aaaand finally, Initiative in case she's detected (and I really, really hope she isn't ;)) = 5 (2+3)...bleh...yes, I really really hope I don't need that one, lol. And I also hope that Improved Initiative is a feat in this version...though I was also gonna take Tracking, I think, so I'll have to have a look into that when I get to whatever level it is I get a new feat, lol.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

Post by beowuuf »

Six guards in total, see this map:
http://www.dmjump.net/scaryroommap1.jpg

All the armours have skulls at various places, the unusual armour also has faces embossed onto the armour too, while the lower ranked armour is plain elsewhere.

Ameena would, if this state of affairs continues, only have to sneak around two soldiers, one of whom might be looking down the stairs though, or might have his back to the stairs as the previous soldiers had (also likely)

Remmeber, Ameena has good acrobatcis to tumble passed people who block her, or to avoid drawing attacks of opportunity. She could just run away, hoping the soldier(s) can't abandon his/thier post :)



It was a tense amount of time Ameena spent moving down the corridor. Now there was no illusionary wall providing cover, if the solider looked around and waved his torch, she would be seen!

Luckily, it appeared - as some dim recollection confirmed - that only the soldiers with strange faces on their armour were truly dangerous. The normal soldiers did make mistakes, as this one was. He seemed to be focused on the fight ahead, as if wanting to join in.

The stairwell seems to be clear, thankfully, no one was there nor looking down. Ameena therefore dared to go forward. The soldier then shifting, putting his hand to his hip...

And moved the pouch. It was as if he was actually thinking about it, perhaps getting ready incase he was called upon to render aid. Happy to have located it, the soldier then shifted forward, and his hand left it to take his torch, so he could put his other hand to his sword hilt.

The pouch was right there, tempting, seeming to be so easy to grab. Surely it would be easy to take...


As Ameena came back to her rat companion, the answer was indeed - yes! However, could she do that again if she wanted to leave?

Lol, the guy rolled badly, no one else would be looking around, and you rolled really well - especially for your sleight of hand! So yeah, you have a potion! Only 1d6 healing, but any healing will stop the rattie being dead, and any result other than a 1 will actually bring it back to life.

So there you go, she who dares - and rolls well. What next for the murafu?
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Oh, and next level up you get a feat. Improved initiative is in 3.5. Tracking needs survival (I think) to be really effective, so you'll need to invest some skill points too for that one.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Oh, Survival is a skill, isn't it? Hmm, maybe I'll pass on that one then since it'll be cross-class for me. I'll have to look into it next time I ding. And yaaay woot, one free potion :D. And heeey, ratty isn't dead yet, just somehow wandering around with no hitpoints left ;).

BIC - It is with much relief that Ameena passes back through the wall safely, potion in hand, to rejoin her rattish companion. Now once again in darkness, she sniffs forward for the rat-creature, clutching the potion tightly in a forepaw as she does so - after all this effort taken to acquire the thing, Ameena has no intention of accidentally dropping it or having it knocked from her grasp.
She lets her relief show, and communicates to the rat-creature in soft, happy-sounding noises along the lines of "I have magic water! Good water. Helps you. Makes bad-ouch-pain go away. I give you now.". Then, remembering something of the administration of these things from what she recalls of Westian, she attempts to pour a little of the potion on the rat-creature's shoulder wound, and then encourages the creature to drink the rest, tipping the flask up to allow her to lap it as it trickles out.

OOC - Obviously, that last part about administering the potion only follows through if ratty will let Ameena do it - if she (ratty) is reluctant to receive her medicine, Ameena will back off and try to gently persuade her to accept it. Ratty mouths aren't really built for swallowing stuff out of flasks and such-like, so for the drinking part, Ameena is just doing what she would do herself when comsuming from such a container, holding it near ratty's mouth and tipping it up for her to drink. Obviously the majority of this is being aided by whiskertouch, given the darkness on their side of the wall ;).
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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The rat stiffens, and there is a slight hiss and wuffle as the potion is applied. Any worry Ameena might have at the fact it has done more harm than good is countered by the fact the rat seems to immediately jump around happily. Ameena still adminsters the remaining drops to the rat just to make sure.

Ameena now has another empty flask (why does this feel familiar) and a

Her companion's wuffle did seem to draw the quick attention of the soldier near the stairwell. He turns his torch around, waving it dow nthe corridor towards where Ameena and her pain rat companion are. Luckily, the man sees nothing, and does not walk further forward. However, the sound - even if he believes he imagined it - sees to cause him to every so often look backwards.

Ameena can still possibly time the man's moves well enough to sneak passed him. OF course, what is the soldier up the stairwell doing? Must she simly run and hope the soldiers won't follow if she moves fast enough?

Anyway, so what's the plan here? Ameena can try for a sense motive roll to get the feel of the rhythmn of the solider's occasional looks backwards, but if she delays then of course the distraction at the other side of the corridor might well cease.

As I've mtnioned before, even if the soldiers spot you, you can make acrobatics checks to get passed them in a tight space, or to move around them without drawn an AoO. And you certainly, on your feet, outmatch them in terms of speed.

For no good reason, while deciding that please also roll me a will save please :D
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Looks like another of your incomplete sentences here - "Ameena now has another empty flask (why does this feel familiar) and a...". And a what?
And Will save = (oh dear I think Ameena's brain is about to explode)...3 (1+2) :D.

BIC - Ameena looks through the wall again, wondering what to do. She's glad that her rattish companion seems to be fully recovered now. Hmm...
She moves down the corridor a little, away from the not-wall and therefore further away from the soldier. She feels her way by whiskertouch along the wall and nudges her side gently against that of the rat-creature, encouraging her to follow. She decides to move quietly, to remove any possibility that the soldier might hear her, despite the distance and the nearby sounds of battle.
Having retreated some way down the corridor, Ameena turns to her rattish companion, keeping in whiskertouch-contact with her. She attempts to convey another message, this one containing what she hopes comes across accurately as a question - "Bad men. Want get past bad men. They kill-pain-ouch. Fear. Want get past bad men up there, find smell of friends. You know a way?".
She figures that the rat-creature is familiar with this area, and what with all these strange paths and corridors and not-walls, it might be better if Ameena can get herself a guide - there might indeed be another route which leads past the guards.

OOC - In case it's needed, Stealth to sneak along the corridor (the one behind the illusionary wall) in case there's any chance the guard is alert enough (and has good enough hearing) to detect her...21 (8+13). Maybe ratty knows of some other way to get to Seeroc's lab (or at least to the area past where the guards were, or something...
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Nah, the will save was for you to remember some things, apparently not :D

The pain rat gives Ameena what could be termed a polite look. She follows Ameena's hands when the pain rat gestures, and cocks her head when Ameena speaks.

The pain rat keeps looking passed Ameena and at Ameena when she speaks of killing, pain and bad men. However, Ameena is possibly now a miniature god to this rat creature, one who can bring pain then take it away with the wave of her hand, playing tag with the soldiers for sport.

Eventually, almost nervously, after a long silence has followed Ameena's speech, the pain rat takes a step backwards, and twists its head, as if encouraging Ameena to keep walking as she has been already.

You won't know if the soldier has heard you or not

If Ameena decides to follow the rattie, it will lead Ameena back round the passageway and all the way over to the initial door Ameena tried to lift (not the ones she was scared of).

Ameena won't be scared of that other area anymore, but will know that she just daren't go over there - that something very, very bad will happen if she does.

In the darkness I guess Ameena won't see, but the rattie will be looking expectantly at the door Ameena tried to lift before. Note that althoguh it will be very time consuming, Ameena oculd attempt to get on the rattie's back and use her knife as a makeshift lockpick on the lock beside the door.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - I'm not sure quite how Ameena can tell where the ratty is looking since she can't see her (ratty's) eyes in the dark...but any other gestures or movements she should logically be able to pick up by whiskertouch.
Meanwhile...

BIC - Ameena follows the rat-creature and is led back to the door she was at before. Now that she no longer feels that she's in any immediate danger, she feels a little more comfortable about nosing around the door - she didn't have much time to do so before because of the approaching rat-creature. It's as though she's gone round in a strange sort of circle - waking up close to this very spot, trying to run from a rat-creature, helping said rat-creature, and then having that same creature end up helping her in return, by leading her right back to this very same door.
At least, she hopes this will help. She sniffs around the door, wondering what she can do with it. Despite not having the addition of a light source this time, Ameena can still remember more or less what the door looks like. And she also remembers which direction she does not want to go, or even look toward.
She sniffs all around the door, and around the walls beside it, whiskertouching everything but giving her ears the job of ensuring that no guards...or anything else...are coming. She also turns to face the rat-creature again, wondering if she'l be forthcoming with any information - Ameena inquires as such, making rattish sounds to the effect of "How I pass here? Need to open door? You know?".

OOC - Perception check for anything on/near the door within whisker/nose-reach of Ameena (including if she stands as tall as she can get - that won't get her the keyhole, I know, but she wants to check for anything apart from that since she knows she doesn't have a key), as well as keeping an ear...well, both ears out for anyone who might be approaching. Oh and would Ameena need to use her knife to try and open the door? I recall on an earlier occasion she got someone (Aurek, possibly) to lift her up to have a go at a lock and she did it with her fingers. Actually, I think it was Helm who helped...possibly...I think he'd already failed at picking the lock so she tried with an assist from him and managed to succeed. I think it was a Ra lock because they didn't want to use the key yet (then Falkor used it later to get out of the undead-spawn-from-the-walls-and-get-bashed-by-golems room). Anyway, keyhole not relevant just for the moment since Ameena's looking to see whether she can get through it another way - if ratty has led her here, she (ratty), assuming she understood Ameena's request, must consider this door to bar another route to where Ameena wants to get to. Logically, the only way ratty could know that is if she's been through it before, or if one of her kind has. So she must know some way to open it. Or maybe she's just observed guards/Seeroc getting through with a key or something...

Edit - Oops, made the post and forgot the bloody Perception check roll, lol...26 (17+9) :).
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Ameena probably can't really tell, I'm just letting you - as a player - appreciate how confused the rattie is :D


Forwardforwardforwardforwardforwardforwardforwardforward says Ameena's rat compaion in the dart. Perhaps the tone is hopeful instead of reassuring, however. Certainly, it seems to have an excited and expectant tone instead of a pushy tone. While Ameena couldn't swear to it, it does seems as though she has checked the area for any crack, hidden switch, illusionary wall, weakness of the door, and anything else. The door itself seems solid. Was Ameena expected to gnaw her way through the wood, as she once thought she might have to do.... somewhere she can't quite recall just now.


I think the long finger thing was your improvisation, and I sorta went with it because Helm had doen the heavy lifting with lock picks. Really, Ameena would use some form of tool - lock picks, etc - to be able to push firsmly enough against the metal of the deepest tumblers. I'd maybe allow it for assists, assuming the closest were the problem.

And lol, even if normal pain ratties have rat-like intelligence, the communication barrier, and the fact this might not be an old nor smart rattie means I don't think Ameena can assume anything. Or she can, but it might not be right. Afetr all, the rattie might just know that this is the only way out that hasn't yet proved to have soldiers, and Ameena seems to be able to do amazing things. So Ameena can get the door open and you guys can explore away from the madness :)

Anyway, the options are realistically try to open the door, venture towards the sound of the fighting, go back to the soldiers and introduce yourself, go back to the soldiers and see if they reveal possessing a key (doubtful) or try to rush back passed the soldiers using some luck to follow her friends' scents.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - I thought it was you who suggested that long thin murafu fingers would work as lockpick, after I mentioned that I didn't have any specific tools or whatever for the job. I think. I may be misremembering.

BIC - Ameena remembers the kee-hole, but isn't sure how she can reach it. It's not as if there is anyone to lift her up here, nor does she have anything she might stand on. Well, there's the rat-creature, she supposes, but that probably wouldn't work - even if the rat-creature would let her do so, standing on the back of a creature of more or less her own size might not be enough. She can remember seeing the kee-hole, but can't quite remember exactly how high it is on the wall. She wonders whether the rat-creature is somehow assuming she has the ability to open a locked door when she has no kee. She isn't sure quite why the rat-creature would assume that, though, since it doesn't really make much sense.
She communicates, in an inquisitive tone, the sense of "Forward how? Big wood thing in way. How make it go?" to the rat-creature at the same time as she tries pushing and lifting at the door again to see whether there's any chance it will budge.

OOC - Strength, I suppose, to see whether there's any way this little murafu will budge a big, locked, reinforced wooden door...12 (12+0). Looks like it may be a case of returning to the snake-path-puzzle area and attempting to sneak past the guards...whatever they're up to by now.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Maybe I was being creative, but the root would have been Helm had his lockpicks there. I'm sure you felt Ameena wouldn't use them though... At least this time you might remember having to do somehting so odd on these ones last time around. Academic, since I think Ameena will be soldier-ward bound.

There is a silence for a moment. Then the pain rat squeaks, 'forwardforwardforwardforwardforward? again. Apparently, the rat does not seem to understand the question, perhaps having no idea how these humanoid mechanisms really work. And perhaps assuming that Ameena, the super-rat, would just be able to magically make it open.

There is another long silence as Ameena is left on her own to try and lift the door. Sadly, the intervening time and her recovered composure has not allowed the door to be any less stuck to her small arms.

Heh, sorry, I think you can be assured breaking the locking mechanism by brute force would be tough even for Haynuus... I guess sneaking passed guards it is!

You can assume because no ickle ratties have been making noises, then the soldier might be a little more lax, but alos the other soldiers at the end of the corridor might be close to resolving the issue.

Assume everything is as you left it (it will appear so) and I'll have fun revealing what might have altered :D
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Ameena looks at the door (or rather, in its direction, seeing how it's still dark) in disappointment. It doesn't look as though she'll be able to get through here after all. There'd be no guarantee it would lead around to the area in which she smelt her friends anyway.
A little disheartened, Ameena decides to return through the not-wall and try her luck at getting past the soldiers. She communicates to the rat-creature that "Can't move big wood thing. Don't have what need to make move. Thanks but this not work. Need go back other way.", then moves past her.
Ameena then goes back through the not-wall, ensuring to be as quiet as she can and keeping fully alert for any signs of the soldiers as she passes along the corridor, in case they've somehow found the not-wall and have thought to douse their torches and are waiting for her. When she reaches the other end of the corridor, she finds that not-wall again and cautiously puts her head into it, looking out at the corridor beyond to see what has become of the humans in her brief absence.

OOC - Ameena is now standing with her head inside the illusionary wall, so she'll be able to see out into the snake-path corridor (provided there's still light out there to see by, of course) without being seen from there herself. Unless she detected anything weird before she got that far, in which case of course she'll stop and assess that first. But you said to assume everything was as before, so I take that to mean there's no human soldier in scary armour standing in wait for her when she puts her head into the illusionary wall where he's hiding or whatever ;).
Stealth (just in case) for getting along the hidden corridor = 33 (20+13 :D:D:D), Perception for being on constant alert for anything of note and then to see/hear/smell (etc) what's going on in the Snake corridor = 19 (10+9) :).
Last edited by Ameena on Fri Mar 26, 2010 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Rat is with you, just not helping you
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Ahh...okay then, hold on while I edit my post bit...
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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The soldier still seemed to be at the place he was before, although his torch was lower and he seemed less...alter....than anyone else. Also, while there was still movement at the other end of the corridor, there did not seemed to be the same frantic calls as before.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - "Alter"...erm...is that a typo? It doesn't seem to make sense...oh wait never mind - it's "alert", isn't it? D'oohhh...

BIC - Ameena retreats once again into the dark corridor behind the not-wall, ensuring that the rat-creature comes with her. She communicates in a slightly sad yet grateful tone "I must go, much danger place - I go past Bad Men, I go find friends. This your home, yes? Bad for you come with me - best you stay, here you know. I go where you not know. Many bad things.", then has a thought that considering the rat-creature's attitude toward her, she (the rat-creature), might think that she (Ameena) is more powerful than she really is. So she adds "I not much great power. I very small. Many things much bigger me, you, us. Many Bad Bad Things. Much much ouch-pain-death-death. I not want you come me - death-bad-pain-ouch come. You come, you pain-death, I bad. I thank - you friend. Not want friend find pain-ouch.".
Then she has an idea, and perks up a little - "You know this place, yes? Bad Men there, I want get past, go up-up. Maybe you go hide, make sounds - you know this place, you hide, yes? Bad Men come look, they not find you. They look you - I run past. You help me - I find friends, you be safe. Bad Men not know. Yes?".
She waits for a sign of agreement, or any other kind of response from the rat-creature in the dark, hoping that the barrage of rattish communication makes sense. She hopes she's communicated the right message, and has been understood. Even if the rat-creature doesn't want to help her in this one attempt, Ameena still thinks it's best they separate now - where she's going, she knows it's likely to be dangerous - that mage...person...the one in grey...or was it black...he'll be there, somewhere, waiting to throw herself and her friends to another place yet again, she supposes. And before that, plenty of other terrifying creatures, as well as the human soldiers in their armour with its skull-shapes...its...souls? Why put a non-hostile denizen of this area at risk when said creature is surely safe enough where she is? Or so Ameena hopes...

OOC - So...Ameena tries to say to ratty "I've got to find my friends alone. Lots of horrible scary things in the way - I dont' want you coming because you'll probaly get killed and I'll feel responsible. I'm grateful for your help, but maybe you can do one last thing - I'm hoping you know this area pretty well because you live here, so maybe you can distract the guards and go hide somewhere because you must know every noook and cranny of this region - so you'll be safe while I sneak past the soldiers as they look for you", but whether ratty interprets it as that is another matter, I'm sure ;). Sense Motive to see whether ratty understands (or at least, as much as it's possible to Sense Motive through touch and sound alone)...30 (17+9+4). Hmm...was there anything else I wanted to ask/say...hmm, not that I can think of right now. I wonder how the others are getting on against Seeroc and his grak-graks...
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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Lol, and your bad typing and ability to correct it in your head comes to the fore. I blame the 't' myself, it's so far out it's obviously trying to escape and dug the tunnel too close to the edge.

In the darkness, Ameena can hear the rat's breathing, and the distinct lack of change in it. Surely there should be some reaction to the words Ameena was saying - if it was upset, disbelieving, accepting, anything. However, there is again just the expectant pause. And Ameena did have to move the rat with gentle nudges to get it back here.

Of coruse, Ameena is tellign the rat this is its home...but is it? There are a set of locked doors on one side, and a stairwell on the other with soldiers. There might be more illusionary walls, or even a corridor on the other side, however that is where all the fierce fighting with a worm sounds like it is taking place!

This rat certainly isn't as large as the others of its kind Ameena half remembers. So perhaps the rat isn't home, perhaps the rat is trapped with dangers and obstancles on all sides. It certainly was more willing ot be cowed into submission and follow Ameena than any pain rat she has met here. Afetr all, until now she did not remember them as intelligent at all, a rat in shape only not temperament nor brains.

The rat, at the very least, seems to happy enough to follow Ameena out of here. And the soldiers don't seem to care about guarding against the stairs, but were very focused on the other corridors upstairs.

Could it be that the rodent has actually been forced and trapped down here? That suddenly sounds right - she had vague memories of this area, though nothing too concrete. And escaping the rodents, not finding them, when Westian foudn the engraving by the stairs.

The rodent might want to escape this place, and besides Ameena can sense that while her initial actions have ensured it understood enough to come with her or stay for a few moments, it doens't seem to be reacting to anything very complex she tries to say.

Perhaps it is better to try to get them both out, and then push the rodent into the corridors above?


Ok, technically that wasn't as much sense motive as also a little bit of a straight wisdom check for intuitive leaps, but to justify such a high score Ameena needs to make connections that she simply can't make if she can't see where the rodent is looking, and can't communicate well with it. Doens't seem much of a stretch though - especially if Ameena has dim recollections that the rodents live upstairs.
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Re: Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

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OOC - Lol, my bad typing? Wasn't my typo - I just decoded it after re-reading the sentence a few times ;).
As for the ratty, well, yeah, I suppose it would be a bit tricky to work out what she's thinking without any light. A shame the only nearby light sources are those held by the guards ;). Ameena hasn't forgotten that she was mysteriously glowing earlier, though, and I'm sure she knows that that's what happens when a wizard casts a light spell - it only needs for her to find a wizard and ask him about it (provided he survives a certain encounter with a certain other/i] wizard and a bunch of shapeshifting/illusion-crafting undead thingys...one of which he apparently has control of if my interpretation of a previous post in that regard is correct) ;).

BIC - Ameena sighs. Maybe this rat-creature doesn't belong down here. How can she tell? It seems the two of them must stay together a while longer, then. But if they're seen by the guards...if this rat-creature gets killed...Ameena isn't sure what she'll do with herself. It will, after all, be her fault, in a way.
She communicates again to the rat-creature - "You want come? Find my friends. They big people. I tell them you friend.". She's about to turn round in order to return to the stairs, but another thought occurs to her - "What I call you? You have name?". She wonders what she should call herself - something spoken in the language known as "Common" can hardly be translated into Rattish. She adds - "My name not this speak - cannot say. What you want call me?". If the rat-creature can't think of a suitable expression for her, Ameena will do so herself and see if she can persuade the rat-creature to use it - it seems silly, after all, that they don't have names for each other. Well, perhaps the rat-creature has a name for her and just hasn't said so yet. The rats she's familiar with, after all, despite not being actually sentient, still seem to have terms for each other. They just don't seem to have names, but rather seem to think of people in descriptive terms such as "Bad-Smell", "Soft-Whisker", and so forth.
She waits for an answer before attempting to explain what they must do next.

OOC - Yeah, I want to be calling her something other than "the rat-creature", so if she can't think of something for Ameena to call her, Ameena will do so instead ;). Then we can get on with trying to sneak past these bloody guards!
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