Ameena's BIG (and last?) adventure!

[Ameena]

"We'd best get moving, then." says Ameena.
She drops back down to all-fours and continues as quickly as she believes to be sensible, which isn't very, compared to how quickly she could be moving, even in the dark, what with Helm and who-knows-what following her. She focuses her nose on the scent trail, her ears all over the place, her whiskers on everything within range, and her eyes on nothing, because there's still nothing to see.
She hopes they'll reach an area of some kind of light soon. Even very dim light, where only vague shapes are visible, would do. She wonders how long it would take Helm to get through a place like this by himself, presumably having to feel his way along by hand. She supposes that if he were a magic-user, he'd be able to cast some kind of spell to help himself - maybe make a light or enhance his eyesight to become capable of seeing in no-light. Then, she wonders, what would a murafu magic-user do here? Probably nothing, she decides. Nothing magical, anyway - with scent-detection and whisker-touch, little else would be needed. Although uncommon, murafu magic-users are by no means unheard of. At least among other murafu. But they would never dare touch any magic that might cause harm. No - better to drive a predator off by dazzling them with a bright flash or causing the ground beneath them to become slippery than to blast them with fire and leave them in agony.
Ameena wonders whether she's having these thoughts because of the traces of Westian and Falkor (mainly Falkor) in the trail, or whether she'd have just started thinking about it anyway.

OOC - I had a thought about murafu "priests" - they don't follow gods (well, High Lords here, I suppose) so they wouldn't pray for their magic. And they'd probably be unlikely to carry a load of glassware around with them. And while it's easily possible the Murafu at some point learned of runes from other species, it'd also be logical to suggest they came about the use of magic by their own means at some point. So maybe when they cast, say, a healing "potion", they'd do it by just sort of "laying hands" and the potion forms around the wound anyway and seeps straight in. Healing magic would most certainly be something murafu casters would use.
Irrelevant, I know, but I just was wondering how magic would work among a species who doesn't get the interaction they'd like with those who tend to use magic a lot more often. I don't imagine Ameena would be able to use magic herself at any point unless she found a teowand or something (and then even thought of it) .

[beowuuf]

The corridor snakes again, and again Helm staggers - though he manages to keep his trip and his curses to a minimum. Helm's wheezing breathing lets Amena know he is at leats around. Their odd 'attacker' from earlier does not seem to make a new appearance.

Eventually, the corridor begins to feel 'wider'. From memory, it is very possible that Helm and the murafu have managed to come to that odd room that had many different corriors coming from it. The grated door should be somewhere to the diagonal left. And beyond that...well, beyond that soldiers and lots more closed off doors. But hopefully beyond that - freedom.

However, the new open area brings with it a few new things. More smells come to Ameena's nose. It smells moldy around now. And oddly, there is the occasional trace of moisture. Worse, a similar musty smell like that of the creature behind them now also seems to come from infront of Ameena too. Not directly infront, but not that far away. Infact, is that a sound of scratching footsteps from the right somewhere?

The worst thing, though, is a smell that is easy to identify. Something, somewhere close, has died. There is not the smell of fresh blood, but certainly a relatively recent death - in the last day or so. That, too, seems to come from the right somewhere. Somewhere closer.

"Ameena?" whispers Helm, coughing again. "Please....tell me we are close!"

And that's going to be it for the extended weekend I'm afraid! Use this time to maybe come up with plans at this time, or check back on the old posts when you briefly past through here (including the pap I posted somewhere).

What exactly is the plan here? Will you try to find hidden switches to go back through the original route again, or will you explore some of the surrounding areas to find an alternative way around?

It goes without saying, there is so much new information to assimilate at this point, a perception check will be needed. Good luck! If you think there are any other checks you want to make, go right ahead. I'll try to check back tomorrow at least, though might not manage a proper update - maybe just some brief information snippets.

Anyway, a few thigns to react to anyway - so at the very least, let me know what Ameena plans to explore, ignore, or avoid

[Ameena]

OOC - Can't seem to find map of that room, though I do remember it - that was where they first met Helm, wasn't it?
Oh, and Perception check = woohoo! Natural 20! (28 overall therefore, but Nat 20 should give me something good by default, I hope ).

BIC - Ameena sniffs the air and instinctively shrinks back against Helm's feet.
"I...I can smell..." she begins, trying to get control of herself. "Something's...dead. I don't think we should stay here too long."
She moves her head out a bit, away from Helm, sniffing intently at the air and listening as hard as she can. Yes, they're definitely in a more open area now. And she thinks she can hear...something.

OOC - Results of Perception check may affect her next action(s), so I'll leave it there for now. Otherwise, keeping on the scent trail and moving on ad quickly as possible would probably be first on the agenda .

[beowuuf]

That was the one! I'll try to update when I get home this evening before my friends comes...

[beowuuf]

Ameena found the hall had diffuse scents - after all, the armoured men must have walked all around here, as probably had Helm beforehand.

However, she was able to detect the subtle scents of Westian as she had briefly learned them from hugging his leg, and the recogniseable scents of Falkor. And Haynuus...well, he was quite unmistakeable.

Helm seemed nervous to no longer have the walls to define their passage, however the floor underfoot became much easier to traverse. Ameena was floating in a sea of scents without anything distracting underfoot.

"Ameena," said Helm sudden;t in a whisper, "was that a...a human body? Maybe...maybe he had some means of light!" To Ameena's nose, heightened by recent conflict, it was very probably the body she could smell was the corpse of a soldier, or maybe another wanderer. Probably human, certainly humanoid...

Ameena can follow the tracks, though the smell of metal past is stronger and more unpleasant. Sweat and what is now obviously old blood is heavy where the soldiers have been.

After being drawn into the centre of the room, the scents then draw towards what must be the grate - indeed the scent of older iron and fresher air gets stronger.

However, the scuttling of feet is now very obvious - two, possibly three sources. One possibly still behind them in the old passage, one 'infront', coming from the rest of the room passed the door, and one from the side that Ameena thought she heard earlier. The same place the smell of the corpse was coming from. And the same scent of concentrated mustiness comes very strongly from all around, mostly from the currently unexplored area of the room passed the door.

Infact...it's very faint, but Ameena would swear that at the very edge of this large room there is some very, very faint glow. Of course, in that direction the worst mustiness, and even a scent of mold, comes to her nose.

Sorry, as I said no critical successes in D&D except for attack rolls. It's still a really good roll though. You sorta know what's going down around you. Anyway, that's kinda it I guess. Time to figure out your next move

[Ameena]

OOC - If you can get me a map (becuase like I said, I looked but somehow failed to find that particular map...maybe I didn't go back far enough but I thought I did...), that would help because the description of the room sounds a bit complicated with stuff in all directions. Or at least, a map of what Ameena thinks/remembers the room to look like .

BIC - "Might be human..." Ameena says quietly, with a shudder. "I'm not sure I can tell, and...I don't want to get any closer."
Looking and sniffing all around, she keeps near to Helm's feet as she takes in as much as she can about the contents of the room, feeling some sense of security from the closeness.
"Can you hear that?" she asks, uncertain quite how good his hearing is compared to hers - the level of hearing in his species sometimes seems to vary greatly between individuals. "It sounds like...creatures, running about. Maybe there's been a...fight of some sort - the soldiers, or one of them, and these...creatures. The smell is the same as of that one that grabbed onto your head."
Ameena twitches an ear, putting her head on one side to consider briefly.
"If we had light here, that probably would make things worse." she muses. "If we were standing in an area of light and were attacked, we'd be clearly seen but to us, our attackers would be coming out of the darkness with, most likely, very little warning. By the way...can you see that, over there? Some kind of glow...?"
Ameena puts her head to one side again.
"I wonder if it's that woman-shape again." she ponders quietly, half to herself.

OOC - A few things. Ameena should be able to tell roughly how many feet these scuttling creatures have - certainly two feet would sound different to four, for example. I'm guessing, based on previous evidence, that these critters have four or maybe eight (depending on whether they're big spiders or actual DM-style Giant Spiders...of course they could be something else altogether ). And how far away do they sound? And are they getting closer? I did have a brief thought earlier that maybe the corpse is Brohur, but he's only been gone for umm, what, an hour? So either his corpse started rotting really fast or it's not him . Theory two is that it's the dead bloke (or one of them) from that room Aurek and Farel started in/came from. And where is the glow, in relation to Ameena and Helm? Hmm well yeah, I think the map would really help on this one . Having been in complete darkness for so long I imagine either of them would spot any kind of faint light immediately - I don't think either of them has particularly fantastic eyesight so if Ameena can see something, Helm surely can too...

[beowuuf]

Previous map is here:
http://www.dmjump.net/level2more2.jpg

You've just come from the bottom left side. One noise has followed you, one comes from the bottom middle, and one comes from the right somewhere. The moss smell still comes from the right, and the glow is perhaps your imagination (think LED illumination, only a good perception roll caught it for now) but also comes from the direct right. Perhaps.

And lol, Ameena put a few skill points in 'identify number of feet' did she? I agree, you can tell it's not something two legged moving, or not aloneIt does sound like multiple sets, but how many - if it's just four legged, or more - who knows! Not Ameena...not for now. Roll another really good perception check while stationary and I might give you it

The scuffling sound is closer than before. The sound to the right sounds louder, but not necessarily closer.


"I can hear...things..." said Helm, obviously with a nervous tremor in his voice, "it doesn't sound like fighting. It just..jsut sounds like things ocming towards us. If we had fire, they might be blinded or frightened. I...I don't think what hit me last time hesitated in the dark to find me. And I never saw them before when I was hear myself." Helm almost jumps when he feels Ameena close to his feet, then seemed to realise who it is. "How close are we to exit?" he asks eagerly.

Helm might be looking around, he then says, "maybe its something, maybe it's something's glowing eyes." He sounds more mervous all the time, perhaps a little hysterical. "I..can we leave? Can we get to the door? If we can open it, we...we can seal it behind us and be safe!"


Hopefully I can update again with Helm's actions after you make more comments or actions. And hmm, your theories on who the body might be... that would be telling. But you are right, Brohur would be fresh!

[Ameena]

"I think we're getting closer now." says Ameena, still trying not to speak too loudly so that she can not only keep an ear on the noises, but also so that, hopefully, whatever's making them (the noises) won't be able to hear them. Hopefully.
"Let's just get across this room. At least we're together - you could have been travelling alone through this." she adds, to try and reassure him. She knows that humans aren't generally as sociable as murafu, but most of them seem to have some level of desire for company.
She starts to move out across the room, slowly at first so as not to risk jerking the string out of Helm's hand, nose pressed close against the floor as she tries to focus her sense of smell solely on the scent trail left by the group's previous passage through this room - she has no desire to expose herself to the smell of death for any longer than she already has, which was far too long in itself.
Though her nose is occupied with the scent trail on the floor, the rest of her senses are busy darting about trying to gather and retain as much information as possible about what's going on nearby. Somehow Ameena knows she's going to be exhausted by the end of this - after the fight and the running away, the poison, the effects of seeing the woman-shape again, then the confusion and unhappiness of exchanges with members of the group, and now this journey...
Too much, she knows, too much...

[beowuuf]

Sorry, I thought I actually had you at the grate... I assume you'll inform Helm once you reach there?

[Ameena]

OOC - Oh, I thought we'd just entered the room and Ameena had paused at the entrance to sniff about. You incidentally didn't put on the map where the dead-body smell is coming from, but I'm guessing somewhere off to the right. But erm, yes, if they can pass the room without incident, then...actually, the grate's not shut, is it? Not unless someone triggered one of the pads? So Ameena wouldn't know when they get there unless the door has runners which it can...erm...run in, and detects as much when her whiskers brush the wall? Otherwise she'd just keep going and probably end up stepping on one of those pads she's probably forgotten about...

[beowuuf]

Well Ameena is right to remmeber the gate was not closed...however...

The two had arrived at the grate. Ameena could smell the metal, but more inportantly the corridor had narrowed and there was the blockage of it in her way. It had not been in this state when they had left.

"We...we are there? Good. Follow me!" said Helm, for once actually taking the lead. He seemed to be feeling his way along the wall, from the shuffling noise. His shuffling noise seemed to occasionally provoke echoes, not entirely to do with the accoustics of the hall.

Suddenly, the string went loose and fell to the floor.

Luckily, Helm's voice came out of the dark soon after. "I'm...I'm going to need both hands to find the switch. And have my back to everything. Can you guard my bakc Ameena? I...I'll try to be quick. It, umm...well, I hope it will all be easy by feel." There was a pause. "Perhaps you can tie the string to my leg or something so I know you are ok."

So there we go, Helm's looking for the switch to open the grate. Does that mean someone like Brohur passed this way? Or something else. Either way... is something on the other side?

Anyway, so will Ameena stand at Helm's back and keep watch? If so, how will she do that (all fours or on feet with weapon, and with string around her or not). Or will Ameena be checking out the grate incase something is onards. OR will she check out one of the other things - the glow, etc - further on.

Let me know, I will be interrupted by a call, but I'm hoping otherwise could maybe get a few updates in just to speed you through this scary dark encounter

[Ameena]

Ameena is slightly surprised to find herself coming against the metal of the grate - it hadn't been shut when the group passed this way before. Then again, she knows that one of the human soldiers from before came this way - he may have closed it, for whatever reason.
She is somewhat relieved to hear that Helm no longer sounds quite so nervous, but he's making her feel nervous herself with all his noisy moving about and speaking. When she feels the string drop to the ground her nervousness increases somewhat, but then reverts to its lower level when it turns out that Helm has apparently dropped it deliberately this time.
"I'm not sure tying anything to your leg would be a good idea." replies Ameena. "Not when there are creatures around who may try to trip you up."
She picks up the loose end of the string and balls it up, putting it into a pouch to avoid it getting in her way but leaving the rest still tied around her waist.
"I'll stay close." she continues. "You'd better try to keep as quiet as possible, if you can - I'll keep alert for anything."
So saying, she moves so that she's half-crouched against one of Helm's legs, leaning on him enough that he should be able to feel that she's there. Meanwhile she turns her senses outward, facing away from the wall and directing all her attention at the surrounding area, at anything she might be able to see, hear, smell...but hopefully not touch.

[beowuuf]

In the dark Helm shifts everysooften as he methodically feels around the wall. Meanwhile, the scurrying gets louder and louder. If all the movement is from the same type of creature, then the noises would match perhaps three sets of four feet moving around. The intense smell that has been following them becomes greater and greater... it is almost as if something is directly ahead of the murafu.

There is then a noise, like a small piece of stone has been kicked on the floor not a yard away from Ameena...the small stone skips along the floor and past Ameena's paw.

"Ameena, when you hear the door move, run towards it!" hisses the thief with a trembling voice. It is unclear if he has heard what is closeby...

[Ameena]

Ameena isn't sure quite how thick Helm's clothes are around his feet and legs, so she isn't sure whether he'll pick up on the fact that she doesn't feel remotely relaxed right now - her whole body is tensed and ready to spring at the slightest touch.
"I...I don't mean to hurry you, but...I think you'd better...well, hurry." she says, unable ot keep the nervousness out of her voice either. "They're...I mean, whatever they are. Creatures...like the one that landed on your head. Several of them. They're very close now."
Then some part of her picks up on the last thing Helm said, and she regains some amount of her composure for a moment. In the dark, she looks up toward where she knows his face (or at least, his head) to be.
"I'm not going to just run and leave you." she says, in a relatively calm yet surprisingly firm tone.

OOC - I think Helm would probably notice that the orientation has changed for that last sentence. That is, he'd probably notice it was aimed upwards toward him, rather than just Ameena speaking whilst still facing outwards into the room. Whether that'll have any effect on him I don't know - I just though I might as well point it out .

[beowuuf]

He probably would notice. However, just cause stupid humans decide to speak alot, doens't mean Ameena should answer them... then again, turning to speak to him is unexpectedly beneficial...

Ameena has barely spoken the words when something heavy smashes into the back of her head. Crouched as she is, she doens't quite fall over right away, but she is spun away from Helm's leg. Helm cries out as the weight against him either surprises him, or worse yet knocks him over.

Ameena's nostrils and mouth are filled with the same taste and smell as before. She can feel something sharp and icky pressing against the back of her head, while four flailing shapes are scrambling around in her face. Two scrawny and rough legs lock on around her neck and tighten, while the other two still flail bumping her nose and cracking into her teeth.


Roll me a d20! I think it might be an idea to have an initiative score. And roll me another d20 to see how well you can resist this weird critter.

[Ameena]

OOC - Will save IC reactions till I know what my rolls have provoked. Initiative (D20+ Dex Mod, yes?) = 14 (11+3). Other d20 roll = 12. You can safely assume that Ameena will be trying to bite and claw at this thing in between trying not to panic (and mostly failing) as her air supply is cut off .

[beowuuf]

Not tight enough to cut off her air supply - yet - but the rolls are not quite enough to dislodge anything. However, Ameena is acting fast in her panic/not panic, so the thing, whatever it is, has not acted again yet beyond wrapping itself around her.

"Ameena? Ameena?!" hisses Helm somewhere to Ameena's side, although it is only heard hazily because of the current muffling.

[beowuuf]

Oops, forgot to say - any actions like clawing and biting, or even moving, are probably best to come with a d20 roll

[Ameena]

OOC - How big is it? Obviously a murafu head is considerably smaller than a human head - if the one that attacked Helm was of a size to comfortably sort of perch on his head while it wrapped its legs around his face, a critter of the same size trying that trick on Ameena would probably be able to fairly easily get a grip on her whole foresection because she's so much smaller even if her head is a different shape...

BIC - Ameena attempts to give a loud squeal of alarm (OOC - "Attempts" because I don't know how restricted her vocalisations are gonna be at the moment) while her hands claw at the things that have wrapped around her. Meanwhile she then ties to sink her teeth into something as well. She also tries to move herself in Helm's direction, hoping she can bump against him and save him trying to feel his way around in the dark for her. She also considers trying to throw herself against a wall and perhaps shake the creature off that way, but isn't quite sure which way the wall is right now.

OOC - And now I'd really better go to bed .

[beowuuf]

Yup, that's why the critter only wrapped around part of Helm's head, while this one is wrapping around both your head and neck. Also, nothing says the one attacking you right now is the same one that got Helm...

Ameena can still squeal, although this noise triggers a ringing shriek in her head, and a much louder, deeper one coming from one of the directions close.

"They're all over!" yelled Helm, scrambling up and frantically attacking the wall by the sounds of it. Ameena sort of felt him moving, and so could re-orient herself to the position of the wall. There were shrill shrieks as she bit the creature and thumped its body into the wall, though it did not seem as eager to detach as last time - assuming this was the same creature. What Ameena did feel was sharp needle-like teeth suddenly pushed into the back of her head as some form of mouth tried to wrap around her.

As said, if I could get a d20 roll for your general attacking it, and another for thumping into the wall, that would be cool. Higher would be better

You ill also take 3 hit points of damage from the bite I'm afraid!

"Argh!" yelled Helm just beside Ameena, "it's on my back! It's on my back!" There was the sounds of frantic scrambling and likewise muffled thumps in the dark as apparently Helm too had the idea to launch himself at the wall.


It's all getting a bit hectic, however as you found before pain seems to have sent these little four legged thingies into retreat. Roll well, and fingers crossed things might be ok! I'd suggest scaring the critters, or gettign the door open quickly, might be the thing ot do. Of course, it could be these things can be reasoned with...

[Ameena]

OOC - Ameena hasn't ruled out reasoning - she's just a bit panicked at having something plonk itself over her head and now try biting her. Anyway...missed the post about d20s for attack - you must have made it while I was typing my reply or something. So, d20 for wall bashing = 14. For clawing, oops, crit-fail . For biting, 18 (and then 1 damage - rolled a 2 on a d4 and halved it to get 1d2 dam for bite, if the hit roll connected). Don't know if any of those rolls add in Dex mod or whatever so I haven't added it just in case (mod is 3 though just in case it needs adding on) - those are just the straight dice rolls listed.

BIC - Ameena squeals again as she feels what seems to be teeth digging into the back of her neck. Despite the pain and the fact that she's in total darkness and with some kind of creature wrapped around her head apparently biting her, she manages to retain enough of herself to actually try saying something.
"Wait! Why...We don't want to fight!" she yells in a sort of scared half-shriek. "We just want to get out!"
Unable to think of much more to try saying at this point, she resumes trying to pull the creature's legs away from her neck.

[beowuuf]

Between the biting and the bash against the wall, Ameena feels the creature loosen its grip around her with an odd squeal. However, it is still actually ontop of her. Perhaps she could shake it off now it was temporarily destabalised.

Make an acrobatics check to dislodge it properly. To let you post one way or the other, I'll tell you the DC is 15. Remember this is still combat, so technically speaking dislodging is a move action, leaving you either a standard action or a second move action

The squeak of the critter on Ameena seemed to illicit a deeper screeching closeby, agains the deeper booming sound. The footsteps scuffling sounded larger, and sound close to Ameena and Helm now. The concentrating smell of the webbing-like substance is much, much greater now, to the extend that Ameena feels her nose twitching uncomfortably. And more importantly, the odd mold smell is also present on this creature.

"Argh, just get loose if you want to go!" yelled Helm in the dark. Perhaps the more timid critter had attacked him, but by the sounds of it it had become caught up in the thief's loose clothing when trying to get free of the pain ofbeing slammed against the wall.

"It sounds like the mother is angry! What do we do?" said Helm in a panic, still apparently scrambling to free the creature attached to him. There was also the sound of coughing at the efforts.

Interesting, was the larger sounding creature really some form of parent? Or simply larger?


There we go, I guess that's round 1 done. With Helm already doing (badly) his round 2 actions So far, yelling 'leave me alone' isn't working, although perhaps the pain thing at least works on one of the tow little critters. Of course, what is this big critter? And what are the big critters anyway?

[Ameena]

OOC - So far my theory is that they're DM-style Giant Spiders, though of the parent-and-baby kind (we had baby Rock Monsters, apparently, so why not ickle bubby killer poisonous four-legged spiders? ). That is, if the larger creature is even the same species as the smaller ones. Ohh yeah, Acrobatics check. I'll have to make a pretty shit roll to fail this one...hehe, 19 (7+12). I shall RP some kind of appropriate-sounding action .

BIC - "Mother?" replies Ameena, as she finally succeeds in shaking off the creature - as its grip loosens, she half-crouches and then bucks her front half back up again, shaking her head as she does so. The creature, whatever it is, loses its grip and slithers off her.
"Its call is louder, but they might not even be the same species." she suggests, now trying to find her human friend in the darkness with the intent of climbing up on top of him and attempting to dislodge what sounds like another of the creatures attached to him.
She also decides that informing him of this might be a good idea.
"I'm going to try and climb up so I can help you - don't panic when I find your legs!" she calls, trying to suit action to word and find him as she does so.

OOC - Presumably attempting to find Helm (and climb up him) will count as a Move. Do I need to roll anything to decide whether (or how quickly) Ameena finds Helm and how successfully her attempt to ascend during his panicked arm-waving turns out? I'm guessing maybe Acrobatics again? I'd roll an attempted Bite or something, but I don't know whether she'll make it up there yet. She might also try squealing at the critter, but she'd probably want to avoid damaging Helm's hearing .

[beowuuf]

As a fuzzle you can climb very well, so no roll needed. What you will need is a dexterity check to try and dislodge the thing that may - or may not, be an Oitu (if that's what you mean by DM-spider). That'll be a standard action. The critter, as postulated, was scared and came off easier, but Helm rolled the acrobatics check so badly that it seemed like the creature was likely to actually not be able to get off. and his shirts are so baggy

[Ameena]

OOC - Making a couple of slight assumptions here as to the location and position of the critter (yeah, Oitu thing, whatever - I had always known them as "Giant Spiders" because that's what our hint book calls them, and I thought that "Oitu" was just a really weird name when I joined here and saw it for the first time), so, you know, correct me if I get it wrong .

BIC - Ameena finds one of Helm's legs with her whiskers, scampers up it easily enough, and almost immediately locates the creature which seems to be on Helm's back, caught in his clothing. She climbs up (somewhat awkwardly, it must be said, since there aren't many places for a murafu to truly "perch" on the upper body of a human) and manages to get herself in a position where she's higher than the creature - her hind legs are gripping Helm's shirt at roughly just below shoulder level on his chest, while her foresection reaches over his shoulder and tries to push the struggling creature free. She attempts to do this in between trying not to either fall off herself or accidentally claw Helm somewhere particularly sensitive, like the throat, with her hind legs.

OOC - Dex roll presumably means d20 + Dex mod. Sooo...bollocks. Erm, 6 (3+3), lol. Probably the awkwardness of the position means she can't get a proper grip or something. I imagine the pain of her previous bite (ie the one she received when she had a thingy on her) will have been temporarily neutralised by adrenaline and forgotten during the intensity of the current situation - let's hope Ameena doesn't suddenly keep over from spider poisoning .

[beowuuf]

Helm falls over with the weight and scrambling of both Ameena and the creature. Helm seems to scream something about being bitten again, and there is a rip of fabric from him. However, Ameena can feel the creature able to scramble free and run away, screeching as it does so.

However, there are a few more of the louder screeches in reply.

Helm makes some whimpering noises, then scrambles around again. "Keep them off me! I'm nearly there! Keep them off me! I almost had it!" There seems to be, not unexpectedly, a great deal of tension in Helm's voice. However, he sounds very panicked, perhaps even hysterical.

I figured the additional weight actually on the creature wouldn't let it stay on, but such a poor roll means something bad has to have happened

If Ameena moves around the floor, she'll realises there now seems to be several items underfoot, most likely from Helm's shift being ripped.

What does Ameena do now?

[Ameena]

OOC - Ameena isn't on the floor to notice any items, since she's still sort of slung over Helm's shoulder. And heeeyyy, you said there were no bad things for crit rolls unless it was on a to-hit roll or something, and that wasn't a crit-fail anyway because I rolled a 3 .

BIC - "It's alright!" calls Ameena into Helm's ear. "I'm sure you'll manage it soon - concentrate! I'll try and stop any more of them getting a grip on you. Let's just get out of here as quickly as we can..."
She wonders what's fallen on the floor - it didn't sound like one of those creatures. Hopefully it wasn't anything particularly important - they may not have time to grab anything.

OOC - What did the items-falling-on-floor noise sound like? Not that Ameena spends a huge amount of time around stone-paved floors, but she'd be able to tell obvious stuff like a metal object clinking to the floor or whatever. And did it sound like a lot of stuff falling or just one or two items? As implied in the IC, from Ameena's PoV, getting down right now would be a Bad Idea, and she's not expecting they'll get any chance to pick up whatever Helm dropped because she figured he'll leg for the door as soon as he's managed to get it open (assuming he ever does ). I hope her arse isn't too much in his face to impede his progress at opening the bloody thing. Oh, and I picture her as being over his left shoulder, btw (for no particular reason), still in the same position as before so her hind legs are gripping the upper section of his shirt front (probably ripping it a bit if the fabric's not strong), and her front half is sort of half-hanging down his back. She'll have got a grip with her front claws by now, but she's ready for any more critters which might try to grab his head again or whatever.

[beowuuf]

No she's not, a dex check of 6 that causes Helm to fall ensures she gets thrown off too. Soryr if I wasn't clear! And there's no such thing as a crit roll (like you roll a natural 1 and you get something extra bad). But I did already explain what the DCs mean, and more importantly that bad things can happen if you fail the DC by lower than 5 in some cases. For example, strpinging a lock. If you get a natural 1, and yet have good thievery, then nothing bad might happen - you might still sprng the lock. However, if your total roll is too low, and there's a trap on the lock...

Anyway, the items fell in the general confusion, so Ameena wouldn't have consciously heard them amongsts the other noises. Roll me a perception check at better than DC 25 and I might change my mind!

[Ameena]

OOC - Perception check = bahhh...11 (3+8...what is it with 3s? ).

[beowuuf]

Tee hee. I'm off to bed, more updates tomorrow!