WESTIAN'S, FALKOR'S AND AUREK'S EXCELLENT CRUSADE

[money]

It's not great - let's hope some other luck is on my side! Falkor: Rolled 1d20 and got 3

[beowuuf]

It's a good tactic, so this time the roll was more the extent of the success...and its duration. It doesn't hurt that OB is rolling decently beside you, even if he's leaving me to decide what some of those rolls mean


Uumack seemed to hesitate at Westian's comments, especially as the cleric had proven himself and his influences before, and seemed ready to do so again. The scorpion snarled at the strike of Westian's staff, snapping claws and skittering in a manner that made the male and female Trolin with their crossbows nervous.

It was at that moment that Falkor dramatically reappeared, striding forwards and speaking his words of understanding to the scorpion. The sight and sound of the diminuative halfling, especially when the halfling was snarling and chirping in perfect imitation, seemed to cement his reputation with the Trolins aswell.

It did not hurt that the two impressive fighters - Farel and Aurek - both seemed to defer to the halfling's actions as if they were commonplace. Which in a way was true, both men had alreayd seen Falkor works a similar miracle before, although in more advantageous circumstances. Little did they know the transformation in thoughts that Falkor had undergone in the short time between the two events. Aurek was moving to flank Falkor, again making gestures for trying to passify the thing. The gestures this time would not co-ordinate well with Falkor's message, but luckily the paladin was being cautious and not provoking trouble. This meant, for now, the scorpion was focused on the halfling.

Meanwhile, Farel took the opportunity to seek out Aldur, stepping back and gesturing for the boy to come close under Farel's protection. Aldur help a short sword in shaking hands, and it appeared that the strangeness and danger of the situation outweighed any wounded pride at Farel's actions.

"Foes. All. Speaking. Wrong," chirped the sciprion back, clashing its claws and taking a step backwards. It was hard fpr Falkor to fully understand the scorpion, although his training and magical contrips did allow him to understand the body language a little aswell as the nature of the sounds. The scorpion probably did not really comprehend the difference between humans and even the High Lord that had tormented and twisted it. At least this scorpion had not had the misfortune to encounter Soorec, and so Falkor's size and shape were surely a striking contrast to the other similarly shaped humanoids in the dungeon.

Small. Leave. Back. Againm, the shirps and body language did not really register perfect communication, Falkor had to assume much of the dialogue. Still, even if the scorpion was not convinced of anything, the scorpion seemed to be allowing the group - or at least Falkor - to leave. Whether it was a large change of plans, or whether the scorpion had merely come by due to curiosity was not easy to work out for now.

Aurek stood down, perhaps sensing the animal capitulating, and Uumack took his queue to stand down aswell, looking towards the corridor and starting to assemble the others as Westian had suggested previously. Tosca, the fat Trolin, was nearest the corridor entrance, clearly torn between being relieved the scorpion was not going to immediately attack, apparently, but also realising this meant he would again have to actively think about braving the corridor.

"Grik, no!" hissed the female Trolpin suddenly, spotting her companion - apparently named Grik - reloading his crossbow, and apparently weighing up the chances of taking the scorpion by surprise.


Ok, so Falkor and Westina have managed to get a ceasefire, big enough for you guys to go back to the original jumping plan, or you could risk a more complicated movements. OB, Westian will get a bonus for fiurther navigation, just don't fasil the initial entrance and you should be fine! Falkor can press for further conversation with the scorpion, to try and convince the creature of Falkor's noble intentions, or to try and find out or communicate something else. Or can use the window to escape too, of course.

Grik's movements are something you can react to immediately, or not. He is only apparently considering further action, not on the verge of firing. Obviously, Uumack might react anyway. It's more a potential danger you might want to mitigate, or it might be wise to allow others to supress.

[money]

The creature replied in riddles, it was not easy to understand the creature and he was sure this went both ways! He shouted to the group "It's time we leave, we need to make that jump now and be done with it." He focused on Grik - "If you take advantage of this creature now I will do the same with you - we fight fair and with Honor and you would do good remembering that." He turned back to the collective "I recommend everyone jumps through taking the advice of our trolin friends. Westian - you were close before, I'm sure with your 'practice' run it will help you achieve it. The rest will need to follow while this creature remains at bay."

"I will come last - I have more to discuss with our friend here - now go." He knew the path was dangerous - but staying was not an option. If another scorpian was to arrive he was not sure the result would be the same.

He turned back to the Scorpian... "Friend, Friend" friend was universally known in almost all languages he had studied and he hoped this would be the same with the Lord's creatures. "Thank you - I will repay your honor and dignity and punish the Evil."

I hope this buys enough time... my rolls have sucked lately! (3)

[beowuuf]

Don't worry, your previous sucky roll carried, so you've got a chance to use up that crappy one safely At the moment you are mitigating the roll with RP mode, so it's fine.

[oh_brother]

Once again Westian was left speechless by Falkor’s actions. He appeared to have navigated the journey back from the other side of the transporter as easily as the first time. He appeared as if from nowhere. And then, like last time, he communicated with the scorpion and calmed him down. Soorec had claimed that he was a ghost, and for the first time Westian began to seriously entertain the possibility that there was more to this halfling than met the eye. For the time being all that could do was add to the aura of power and mystique that it was necessary to convey, so he just unquestioningly accepted the strange events.

He nodded as Falkor offered his advice. "Yes, I remember where the exit was." More or less, he thought to himself.

“All right my friends, we should move. I can go first to try to get out at the right junction, and make a light and noise to mark the correct exit. I will try to grab you when you get near. Do not wait too long, we need to keep moving.” Picking up an empty flask he whispered ON OH BRO ROS. As expected a liquid condensed almost immediately inside. He repeated this twice more, filling all of the flasks in his possession and handed them out. “These will help anyone who is unsure of their footing. The jump requires good reflexes, so be prepared. Who will take one? Farel? Ardur?”

Westian took an unlit torch and left it in his backpack. Otherwise he prepared as the previous attempt, braced himself, and jumped on.

I assume there is a torch somewhere Westian could light on the other side? The rolls were a bit better this time 20, 18 and 13. I had three flasks (we will have to drink two ON VI potions first – whoever is injured). So that is two ON and one UM dex potion. I suppose Aurek, Ardur and Farel will need them the most? If Westian makes the other side he will light a torch and make noise when someone comes near.

[oh_brother]

But Westian will offer the potions to Uumack and his men too...he will not want to be seen as playing favourites! He will not offer one directly to Tosca, only the others. But if Uumack suggests giving one to Tosca he might be swayed. And if there are any other flasks around Westian can cast another UM potion.

[beowuuf]

Wow, the following post got so long that what I think I will do is split it in two. The first really long part is the whole journey of the group around the track - enough rolls went right this is possible. The second post will be what the scorpion says to Falkor, and then a summary of where the party is at! Apologies in advance for the rambling, and bad spelling etc


The group looked on at Falkor, some perhaps considering him brave, others perhaps considering him foolish. Still, he was buying them time. The male Trolin was struck by Falkor's words, and looked uncomfortably around the group. Westian's impressive standing and Falkor's own actions seemed to make anything either said law at this time. Talk of honour - while Uumack stood close, and Tosca cowered further away, were also sure levers to pull. Grik stood down, stepping back to recover his sack for travel.

Meanwhile, Farel luckily had a small flint to light the torch that Westian had suggested using, claiming the torches were supernaturally pre-disposed to lighting, if they were torches of the dungeon itself. A single spark from a wall was usually enough to get them to ignite. Farel help the party's current torch away from the skittish scorpion, obviously intending to extinguish it when he jumped. The Trolins themselves would not care for such things.

Aurek stayed silent to start with about the distribution of potions, however Farel insisted that the paladin take one of the better potions, and Ardur the other. Farel also begged the favour that Aurek could take Ardur around the track, to whch the paladin agreed with some well-masked reluctance. Whether Aurek was worried about going around, or whether he was worried about being encumbered instead of helping Westian was unclear.

It was clear that the Trolins were not caring about such aid, and Uumack positioned himself such that Tosca could not weasel the potion. Falkor obviously needed no such aid, and so Farel eventually took the final potion. Both Farel and Ardur had managed to refresh their wounds and travel weariness with Westian's healing potions.

Not much more could be done to prepare them for the way around. The non-Trolin group were as ready as they would ever be, it seemed.


So armoured with a torch, flint and determination, Westian once again dove into the corridor. Perhaps too late Westian should have considered the illumination in the corridor, or lack thereof. Still, as he had said the Falkor, he was reasonable confident of remembering the route. Maybe.

Luckily Westian's muscles and subconscious remembered the corridor - or perhaps a benevolent High Lord was watching over him. He managed to jump perfectly into the corridor this time, and suddenly found himself carried on a cushion of inertia and magic. As the light dimmed, and panic began to rise, he could feel the tugging of the track around the corridors, and he already guessed where the corrodior should exit when he saw the second piece of luck.

The spell Falkor had cast was a light spell that could be positioned on an item - or in this case an area. Whether deliberately or not, Falkor's spell remained in the corridor as a dim glow that Westian's elvish eyes could focus on perfectly.


I would have gladly had Westian guess perfectly with the rolls, but it seemed this was a more satisfying narrative reason - OHIRRA is like the D&D permentant light spell the way I've tweaked it, where you can put it on a place or item. It separates it from FUL, which follows the caster around.


Westian had jumped perfctly into the track by luck or guidance, and he was drifting to the outer side of the track as he got near the corridor. A quick kick out and a stretched arm saw him pulling himself into the corridor just before some magics of teleportation or force could pull him around.

He had made it this time!

Not to be caught slacking, Westian lit the torch so those with poorer eyesight would have a greater warning. Standing close enough to help, but far enough away to not get pulled back in, all Westian could do was wait. Westian made an encouraging noise to indicate he was there, and a further noise - a selection of hymns, he realised - to further allow the others to zero in on his position.


Aurek was next, firmly taking Ardur under his wing so to speak. Ardur was given Farel's shield, and stood directly infront of Aurek. The paladin then pushed them both into the corridor without hesitation.

The paladin, too, seemed to be blessed by Larethian - although Westian's potion could not have hurt. Westian's precautions with light and sound meant that the dismount into the exit corridor was perfect. Farel's shield came first, Ardur having enough presence of mind to throw the item forward to give the two of them a little extra drift.

Ardur immediately rushed deep into the corridor, ostensively to recover the shield where it had clattered. Aurek instantly had stepped back to the mouth of the corridor, to check on Westian and then look into the corridor.

"Farel is wearing plate armour," said the paladin with worry, before shouting to Farel that all was well.

It was not long before the knight came himself. Despite his armour, it appeared Farel had managed to enter the corridor well basing his jump on the previous successful jumps. Or perhaps Farel had over-jumped, and the armour had infact stopped him from coming to harm. Certainly, he was positioned well enough that he could reach out for the outstretched arms of his companions-

Suddenly the club that Westian had dropped - that had been forgotten in the confusion - struck a glancing blow on Farel's arm as it came around in a blur. Farel was not so sure footed, especially not in his restrictive armour - that he could react to the blow. His hand spasmed open and he began to slip...


Ok, OB - you need to decide what you are going to do to try and grab Farel, or if there is anything else you can think to do. Or you can try rolling a luck roll if you want to ret-con a precaution against this. Farel did well on his actual corridor entering, so a good recovery hear will save him. Aurek will make an aid another based on Westian's actions, or if Westian's actions are passive/solitary he'll make a parallel strength check. Anyway, moving on....


Not realising what was going on, the Trolins started funnelling out. The male then female trolin leapt into the corridor. The male was caught by a surprising current in the corridor, caused by the movement of Westian's club and shield. As he tumbled and tried to right himself in the corridor, the confusion at the exit with Farel threw off his instincts.

While the female Trolin managed to enter perfectly and drop her pack in time, the male Trolin had mis-timed his drop and was thrown into the wall beyond the disturbance. The female Trolin dropped perfectly into the corridor, stumbling a little but otherwise turing ready to assess the situation.

Apparently the secret as far as the Trolins were concerned was to jump into the corridor as fast as possible - no doubt to avoid the dropped sacks.

Uumack looked back to Falkor, a mixture of bewilderment and awe. However, Uumack had no time to waste. Tosca seemed to realise that the moment was upon them to enter the corridor, and was terrified. However, Uumack acted so swiftly - or Tosca so slowly - that the fat Trolin was thrust into the corridor as Ardur had been, Uumack firmly holding on.

Uumack managed to keep himself balanced well enough to keep Tosca under control. A dropped sack later, and the leading Trolin landed into the corridor with a gasp. Tosca had scrambled surprisingly well into the corridor once the chance had permitted.

Of course, Uumack then did the count quickly and realised who was missing.


Sorry for the delay. I thought there would be a hell of a lot of background mechanics to crunch and narratively deal with, plus I've been working the weekend too. Still, there was a very strange but pleasantly surprising distribution of rolls! Aurek and Uumack nailed their rolls, Ardur only needed to aid Aurek and hit it well, the female Trolin got a good roll where it counted (though a bad dismount), and Tosca's anti-aid another roll failed, but even if he had knocked everything he got a good pull himself free roll if needed.

Farel's entrance roll was good enough that with full plate the potion and light aid he entered well enough that I'm not going to punish him. Still, Farel's pull himself out roll is not good, hence the drama! And really, the only one that completely blew it was the male Trolin. Combined with the Farel distraction, that sort of sealed that Trolin's fate for going around the track again!

[beowuuf]

The scorpion shuffled around as Falkor stood in the way. The creature seemed bemused that Falkor could make understandable noises. The clicking for 'friend' seemed to be a strange set of sounds, and the scoprion seemed to twist them around.

"Not kill. Not kill yet." came the sounds. "Not kill...long yet" That seemed to be the closest twisting the scorpion could come to the sounds Falkor had procuded. "Not kill long yet, if share kill."

It was hard to understand exactly what the scoprion meant, not surprising when the creature itself was low in intelligence, and also using such a simplistic language. It seemed that not killing something was as close to friendship as these creatures got. Sharing a kill? Was that something to do with Falkor harming the enemy of the scorpions? That seemed likely.

Some odd memory or understanding of Falkor's drew him to look at the claws of the scorpion. The way to indentify the creatures were the unique markings of the claws. In a way, the battles and activities of these creatures shaped their identities over their life. And in a way, it made the mutilation of the one in Soorec's room all the more horrible. Soorec had stolen a part of the creature's identity in his experiments.

The scorpion seemed to be getting more and more skittish as Falkor remained. Clearly, while Falkor's words were giving the scorpion pause for unaccustomed thought, actions were probably all that would convice it of Falkor's intentions.


Probably time to go! Still, Falkor has a good chance of identifying the scorpion in the near future if you ever come back this way!

* * * *

Ok, to summarise:
Westian, Aurek, Ardur, Female Trolin, Uumack and Tosca through ok.
Farel entered ok, but didn't manage to exit - he caught the edge of the corridor/peeople's hands. OB (with Aurek aid) needs to do something.
Male Trolin missed - Falkor could do something as he leaves. Or the whole group (minus Falkor) could let him come back around and try something to snag him. If Farel or Grik (the makle Trolin) are in the corridor, Falkor might not want to enter... I won't spoil if the eddies caused by poeple will affect him in the ethereal plane!

So that's where you guys are at! Almost through, really! Just a few red shirts to worry about now :p

[money]

Falkor smilled gently, bowed his head and moved back towards the teleporters. At this end there was a lot of comotion - it seemed that most of the group had got through sucessfully although he could hear the comotion further on. "Let me know when everyone is through ok.." Fakor had made it through but he had sensed more than just a simple mechanism here - some underlying magic that even when cloaked could play it's part in traping him... so he wanted the way to be clear again, as it had been the first time.

As he shouted this he noticed the male trolin in trouble, zapping past him... too late for him to react. "The male trolin is coming back round, get ready"

[oh_brother]

"I will shout when we are all here" he responded to Falkor. "Aurek, Ardur and I are safe already."

Suddenly Westian realised that something was wrong. "Hold on to me!" he shouted to his companions as Farel's difficulties became clear. Hoping that someone would do as he said he leaned forward. He struck the snake staff out in the path of the knight briefly in order to slow his movement, albeit in a somewhat painful manner. With his right hand he snatched out and attempted to grab any part of him or his armour, and then pulled back in immediately.

Roll to grab Farel was 15. As long as Westian is not pulled into the corridor himself he will fall backwards as soon as he has a hold of Farel. Hopefully helped by Aurek. Sorry for the delay posting, very busy time of the year.

[beowuuf]

Westian managed to snag the slowed Farel's hand, and together with Aurek they moved fast enough to pull Farel into the corridor just before the magic acted on the knight.

"My thanks, friends," said Farel shaken, but he recovered quickly when Aldur rushed forwards presenting the knight's shield.

The potentially touching scene was interrupted by the female Trolin's entrance, and the yell of the male Trolin spinning passed. By the time Tosca and Uumack entered, Falkor's shout had been heard, and the group were ready to aid the male Trolin as he flew passed again. Although what could they do that wouldn't risk themselves?


Cool tactics, good roll, the wonderful conflux of events that saves Farel from another spin. One more red shirt to go - if you care. After all, he's the most objectionable Trolin after Tosca

[oh_brother]

“Quickly, we need to stop him before he goes around again” Westian shouted. “Two of us move up to the edge, we will both try to grab him. The others stay behind and divide into two groups; one group hold onto me, the other hold on to the other “catcher”. Quickly, we don’t have much time.”

Westian will stay on the left hand-side of the corridor, the other catcher can stay to his right. That way he can still try to slow down the Trolin using the staff and both people can try to grab him. Having two or three people holding onto each of us should mean that we are less likely to get sucked in ourselves. I rolled a 9 for the grab attempt.

[beowuuf]

Uumack had barely realised the statis of the group and his missing 'man' before Westian was already issuing a call to action. Uumack strode forwards to be the second person. The female Trolin had been loading her crossbow, apparently readying herself to kill her companion when he came passed again and spare him a painful death. "Guree," snarled Uumack, whether it was a Trolin word of the female's name only Falkor could have deciphered. With reluctance, she set aside her crossbow and moved forwards to grab Uumack.

Aurek was already holding on to Westian firmly as if he were being pulled himself. Farel looked left and right at his options, but encouraged Aldur to grip Westian, and with only a fraction of a hesitation gripped Uumack too. The Trolin noted the human's touch, and winced, but said nothing in the interest of group harmony and appreciation of the gesture.

Tosca scurried to the other end of the corridor, apparently in no hurry to help.

The snarl from the hall came soon enough, and the group shifted ready to react. The male Trolin came quickly into the light, perhaps too quickly. He was alreayd slamming with thumping and grunting sounds int othe wall, bouncing into the corridor to get pushed into the wall again. Unfortunately, he was completely upside down and insensible, unable to help himself.

The arc of his rebounds put him further out when he came near the corridor's mouth. Westian's staff couldn't quite catch him, and the magical wake caught the half-elf off guard. Aurek was actually pulled forwards along with Westian, caught by surprise at the ferocity of the pull of the corridor. It was a surprised Aldur - still under magical haste - who reacted quickly and provided the necessary leverage to stop the devotees of Larethian from requiring the High Lord's aid once more.

Meanwhile, Uumack too was reaching forwards dangerously for his companion. The female Trolin appeared to be encouraging this behaviour, although equally alert at pulling Uumack back. Farel was almost dead weight, caught by surprise coming and going.

Uumack snarled at his man continued around the tunnel, and the female quickly went to retrieve her crossbow.


Damn. Some middling to low rolls with the group, and a natural 1 from the male Trolin himself meant a decent idea at aid didn't quite cut it Unless you guys are going to give it one more college try with something else (or trust to luck and try one last time) I guess you just need to let the Trolin get thrown free (or splattered), enough for Falkor to walk across freely then you guys move on.

Poor red shirt! His name was Robert 'Grik' Polson.

[oh_brother]

I won’t be able to post later, something just came up...but Westian will reluctantly let the Trolin be shot.

[beowuuf]

Awww, poor Trolin! We'll see if money has any last minute ideas, otherwise I'll update this weekend and move us on

[money]

Apologies, been away for a few days with work... Falkor has no loyalty to the trolin, and is too small to risk getting pulled in with any "save" attempt... plus he would rather get across sooner than later - before the scorpians change their mind! Afraid this Trolin may be history.

[beowuuf]

Uumack was already turning his back on the corridor, althoug Farel was hesitant to do such a thing. "We can't just leave him?" asked the knight, although of course the fully armoured knight had no plan to offer that could be more than the combined effort that everyone had already put in.

The female Trolin, to Farel's dismay and disgust, once more grabbed her crossbow and stood close to the corridor's entrance, waiting for a clear shot.

"You tried. Thank you." said Uumack to Westian. If he was, perhaps, a little disappointed and shaken that the priest did not have limitless powers, certainly Westian's standing otherwise had not been shaken. Afetr all, Westian had almost been pulled back into the hall.

Falkor saw the male Trolin speed back around again, already apparently unconscious from the speed. The was a painful sounding collision with the edge of the corridor, an arm caught, but the Trolin did not cry out. Or at least, did not cry out in any way heard. Clearly, the male Trolin was the only thing still in the corridor though.

The scorpion behind Falkor moved skittishly, but it was clicking to itself too quietly to make out the words.

Uumack resolutely kept his back to the corridor entrance as the make Trolin came around again, as if uninterested. The female Trolin raised her bow...and then cursed as her bolt went wide, striking the other side of the corridor then whipped around itself. She fumbled for another bolt, showing unusual clumsiness to notich a second bolt. She drew it back, but there was no second shop. The male Trolin did not reappear again.

Falkor felt he was clear to walk through the corridor to wjhere the rest of the part was.

Meanwhile, Uumack's apparent indifference was explained as he finally spoke words.

"Tosca," said the Trolin, pointing tp the dimness of the other end of the corridor. A dimness consicuous for the absence of any fat Trolin dwelling there. "Where is Tosca?" asked Uumack, voicing a worrying question.


One NPC gone, and another you maybe hope wouldn't go has disappeared. What to do?

[oh_brother]

Everyone had made it across other than Falkor and the unfortunate Trolin. Since Westian had no worries about Falkor’s ability to cross, and since the Trolin was exceedingly unlikely to make it in any recognisable form, his attention drifted to those around him.

Tosca is gone. That realisation filled him with shock and anger. Without waiting he shouted out to no one in particular. “Where is that traako?” He ran down the hall holding the torch, his eyes scanning for any sign of their fat companion.

Perception roll was 3 + 4 = 7.

[money]

the noise stopped, the Trollin - or what was left of him had stopped returning and quiet returned. Falkor activated the cloak and made his way through the blue haze.

[beowuuf]

Westian caught Uumack offguard, and the Trolin had to rush to catch up to the swiftly moving cleric. Uumack was given a helping hand when Westian discovered that at the end of the corridor, after a small kink, was a split in the passageway. It was a strangely cut section, very precisely shaped in angles and blocks. The left and right hand paths went diagonally in what would be undoubtedly 45 degree offshoots.

"Left lead to home," said Uumack, pointing, "right lead to secret way to king." Uumack paused for a second, as if evaluating the ways. "What 'track-oh' mean?" He looked to Westian, both for an answer to his curiosity, and more likely a hint in a direction.

Unfortunately, the fat Trolin had left no obvious signs of his passage.


Meanwhile, Falkor managed to navigate the corridor perfectly, the dull sensations of sound and vision making it difficult but not impossible to tell what was happening. After the strange weightless darkness of moving through the walls blocking one corridor from the other, Falkor came to the mouth of the other corridor.

He could see that there was some movement, and the obviously white blur of Farel moving strangely. Something was wrong. Falkor could not yet hear the reason for the disturbance, nor make out the group well enough to realise the missing member.


I'm leaving Falkor in the ethereal plane for now. Still very funny that the cloak that makes you invisible ended up with the halfling! Anyway, if Falkor materialises, assume Farel and Aurek will fill him in quickly about what is going on - that Tosca ran off, and Uumack/Westian are chasing after him. And the group are getting themselves together to do the same!

[money]

Falkor quickly de-activated the cloak - it was far too valuable to be used unecessarily. He returned to see the group minus Westian, Uumack and Tosca. "What Happened? Did Uumack and Tosca not make it?"

Farel and Aurek, rather excitedly and perhaps still unsettled at the dissapearing and reappearing Falkor filled him in on the details.. Falkor was not surprised, he had not trusted these Trolins and as good luck had helped reduce the size of the group, bad luck would see the fat Trolin leaving the group - no doubt off to betray the group for his own reward.

"We must move on at once" Falkor turned down the corridor and shouted "Westian, we are on our way"

[oh_brother]

“It means shit” Westian replied to Uumack distractedly as he considered their options. “That fat coward cannot get far” he reasoned out loud. He looked at Uumack and spoke quickly as he moved. “If we split up one of us should be able to find him. Run straight, and be careful. And let’s hope we find him before we come across any further splits in the path. If you don’t find him after a few minutes come back – we will meet up here.” He began to run down the right-hand corridor when he heard Falkor’s shout. “Down here! Come to the junction and split into groups to find Tosca!” With that he disappeared down the passageway.

As for traako, I searched on Google for elven swear words and found it, thought I would use it. I didn’t want to play Westian as too ethnic, since he is well educated in other cultures, but thought that at times of stress people sometimes slip back into their mother tongue. Hence spontaneous swearing in elven!

[beowuuf]

I liked it

Uumack disagreed with the coming back. "We should keep going. You keep going right to king." The female Trolin had rushed forwards along with Falkor and the rest. Uumack pointed to her. "You lead them. Look out for Tosca." Uumack then hefted his club. "I take main route. Not stop. If reach king first, before you, will speak on your behalf." Uumack looked to the female. "Not let Tosca speak. He will speak black, weak words."

With that, Uumack made to run alone down the left hand path even as Westian had rushed down the right hand path.


Ok, so Westian is already down the right hand path, Uumack has started off down the left hand path apparently planning on keeping going, and the female Trolin has started off down the right hand path after Westian. If Westian wants to yell anything against Uumack's plan, or tell anyone else to go the other way, now would be the time. And of course, will the right hand group press on or comee back to the split?

And will Falkor go with Westian, or rush after the Trolin leader?

[oh_brother]

"Okay men, let's go!" Westian shouted behind him, making sure that the others knew which way he was heading. He was relieved to hear the halfling's shout."This way!" he shouted back. "We need to find Tosca!" With that he continued running.

Westian will probably be faster than some of the others (especially Farel and Aurek, but possibly not Falkor and the Trolin.). But he will run ahead in the hope that Tosca was not too fast. After awhile, if there is no sign of Tosca, he will probably assume that he went the left-hand route and allow any stragglers to catch up. If there are any otehr junctions there could be trouble, but I assume that the female Trolin can run as fast as Westian?

[beowuuf]

Farel will certainly be left behind, but LB took the run feat for Aurek, so he should be able to keep up. The female Trolin will definitely catch up. Falkor, being a halfling, would be a little bit slower due to leg size, but as a wizard regaining his memory of his powers Falkor can have a few tricks handly. LIke using the aura of speed from DM2!

[money]

"We're coming" and with this Falkor proceeded down the right corridor, he had no idea how fast Westian was going but he expected that he would be trying his best to catch that trolling before he got to the king.

"Come on everyone, time is of the essense"

[beowuuf]

Aurek and the female Trolin moved swiftly ahead, following the dancing lights of Westian. Falkor, Farel and Ardur were left playing catch-up. Falkor's legs and his oversized cloak, and Farel's armour, slowed them down respectively. Ardur seemed to keep a slow pace due to his chainmail, but more importantly because he apparently wanted to stay close to them.

"Keep up or keep quiet! Noise bad!" screamed the female trolin over her shoulder. Farel seemed to realise his clattering armour was creating a din, and slowed his pace. Ardur looked confused but followed suit, so the two fell back only able to see the pinprick of light form Westian's torch, and trying to follow it at a respectful distance with as haste.


Obviously, Falkor can keep running or fall back too.


Up at the front, Westian could see no actual sign of the fat trolin. And the female trolin seemed to be giving no indication of seeing anything and hurrying up, nor stopping to regard a clue.

"Tunnel split soon, keep going forward!" hissed the female trolin. However, Westian was beginning to register something. Although there was no sign of Tosca, he realised that his eyes had blipped over odd scratches. He could swear perhaps he had seen a single straight mark, and a set of two marks. Now he was just going passed three scratches made parallel about a third of the way up the wall on the left hand side.


Still in pursuit of the possibly phantom Tosca! If you guys are going to keep running, I'll need a perception check (wisdom) from each of you, a stealth check (dexterity) from you, and I'll hedge I might want to use a constitution check from you too.

AS you may guess, if Tosca is ahead of you, you guys need to balance catching up with a) not tipping of how close you are, b) actually spotting him. Both of those could combine to making sure he doens't do something obnoxious to you you don't spot!

Even if he isn't ahead of you, there are possibly other dangers or opportunities to discover or protect against. So yeah, let me know what you are biasing for (speed, checking surroundings, stealth, something else) and also let me know what additional precautions you are thinking of taking.

More importantly, if you run headlong into a trap, run into a natural hazard, or run into Tosca or another creature, you might want an action or tactic prepared....

[money]

It all happened so fast, one minute they were at the junction and the next.. running down the long corridor. It was all a bit too 'conveniant'... sure, Westian had travelled with this group for some time, but could he really trust the trolins? Could they have planned this? Perhaps speaking to the king on her behalf meant telling him of her sacrifice! He bagan to slow his pace and started looking around, at the floor and walls in more detail Arcana=10)
... he was an experianced explorer and for whatever reason he had put that all to one side to focus on catching an out of control Trolin. Westian could lead up ahead - if there was no trap he could manage the Trolin or at least call for help from the female trolin and Falkor/Farel would eventually catch up.

(Perception=14 Stealth=6 Constitution=7)

[oh_brother]

Westian kept on running at the urgings of the female Trolin. His eyes darted about, trying to take in as many details as possible before they disappeared in a blur. Could Tosca have made them? Unlikely, but possible. But if so, who was he leaving a sign for? Unless there was a traitor in their midst their was no gain for Tosca to leave a trail. They must have been there already.

But this was a side point. knowing that he was leading the pack was enough motivation to keep pure speed as his main priority.

Perception was 20 + 4 = 24, stealth was 12 + 4 = 16, constitution was 2 - 1 = 1.

[beowuuf]

Falkor started to put his head in to gear, and get ahead of his opponent using his mind and not his feet. This way was supposed to be the shortcut to the king. However, logically a secret path anywhere was secret for a reason. It was the very rare secret path that managed to be secret simple by not being revealed. There usually had to be a danger that would deter the casual investigator, or it had to be guarded.

The track they had just encountered was certainly a slight deterent, however was that really enough? Especially given the Trolins themselves could take either track. Why was this right-hand track supposed to be safer for non-Trolins to avoid detection? Why would such an easy path exist to the king? Falkor looked out for traps, while also considering the possibility of betrayal from the Trolins Westian had supposidly convinced to join them.

Farel seemed to spot the slower pace of Falkor, and had reduced speed to ensure the halfling was in no distress, nor spotted anything. The distraction was not too severe, although it meant that Falkor had no chance to be stealthy - just have a person who would focus attention for a moment.

Falkor spotted the marks finally, and had the time to contemplate them. They were odd, but seemed old. Quite precise, not really anything one would expect from a Trolin. If this were one of Chaos's puzzles, then what was it counting up to? So, it seemed if this were the reason this way was not used, there was another trick or trap to look out for. Something the Trolins thought they could navigate, but not something the king worried about. The mind had almost killed a few people, and lost one Trolin - and that had been considered navigable!


Ok, I will stop rambling. I'm going to assume that Falkor is by default still looking, and thinking about things, and being slow. So all the rolls will carry. The pay off will be in an update or so, so you can concentrate on something else if you like without falling afoul of me


Westian instead set the pace, with the female Trolin pushing him hard though. He was perceptive enough to be able to spot the scratches growing in number - he half assumed and half spotted the sequence continuing - and he could also tell by subtle movements that the determined female Trolin was clearly not finding any signs she wanted.

"Not...come this way..." she seemed to conclude. "Might...be wrong. Need...to move fast...both ways." She spared a look back to see Aurek keeping up, and the others having dropped back to be a pinprick of light. Luckily, Aurek had a torch aswell.

There was a pause as the group kept on running, hopeless as it apparently was. Or desperate, as might now be the case. Suddenly, the female spoke again. "Why you...really...want to see king?" asked the female Trolin between breaths towards Westian. Westian was already finding the strain of some wounds and a general lack of sustained exercises were taking their toll on his otherwise fit body already. Still, for now he could still speak and keep up.


Westian is currently - he might think - be up to seven scratches on the wall. The good perception somewhat mitigates moving fast. And yeah, you really don't want me to decide that you've travelled far enough to need a constitution check.... Then again, you might want to take the penalties and carry on!


Sorry, today's u[date is a little bit of treading water because of where you are. Things will resolve - unless you put other things in the way - tomorrow