DM themed play-by-post D&D game : STORY THREAD

[beowuuf]

Falkor spoke with authority, and after all Seeroc had managed to get free. The half-orc's less violent twin let go of the switch and moved as Falkor motioned, rushing to confront the scoprion that was threatening the Aurek twins.

Any that cared to watch were in for an interesting sight few lived to see. Haynuus moved swiftly to face off against the yellow terror, but as he did so his visage transformed, revealing completely what Westian had only seen hinted before.

The fake Haynuus's head tilted back and he seemed to let loose a resonant screech that quivered the chest of all who heard it. 'Haynuus' blinked obscenely, as if his eye socket decided to swallow his eyeballs. When the sockets fully opened again, there was a too deep hollow there - surely a viewer should see through the creature's skull to what was behind it?

'Haynuus' opened his mouth too wide, and another set of teeth emerged from the sides to form a squared shape. The mouth rounded, the teeth needled, and an odd 'GRAAAAAH' sound bellowed from its mouth, repeated once more in a quick succession with an odd glottal stop to it. Only retroactively could one see why the soliders might call these things grak-graks.

The three remaining twins around the room opened their mouths and hooted, then repeated the same refrain.

"My little ones say my name..." said Seeroc, apparently proudly.

'Haynuus' kept moving. He seemed to stagger and his leg twist as if broken. It was a mental twist to realise the thing's legs had almost inverted compared to normal human physiology and it was actually still moving swiftly. Knees and ankles seemed to be at wrong places and twisted in the wrong direction, while the thing had four trailing 'toes' at the back and a central hooked toe at the front that felt like its heel.

'Haynuus's' thickset body was stretched sickenly - although the creature no longer resembled the half-orc anymore. What had been thick muscled arms were no less muscled but were now slightly too long. Fingers were stretched and taloned, old blood still covering their tips.

The thing moved to the centre of the room, ignoring the two Aureks, and spread its arms wide to again screech at the scoprion before it. A little stubby tail at the back - enough to cover its modesty - waged briefly as if it was pleased with itself.

Certainly, as the thing stood proudly challenging a creature of Chaos twice its size, all wrong mottled grey flesh and countenance eager to kill, Seeroc seemed to stand a little straighter in pride, lost in the moment.


Hey kids? Seen Solomon Kane? I watched it recently and was a little disturbed at how much the mirror creatures resembled my thoughts on the grak-graks' appearance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qir5t9RbEHo. Imagine the legs are shaped a little like satyr legs. Now imagine a way to get this thing back to looking like Haynuus, please!


The moment was shattered by Westian, whose pragmatism and hatred of undead probably served him well.

Farel had taken a moment, as the rest had, to see the horrifying transformation across the way. That had perhaps allowed a wedge to be placed into his emotional turmoil, enough that as Westian bellowed, the knight understood the words and looked in shock at the sight of his squire alive, and well - at least physically.

"Larethian be praised!" said Farel's choked voice, but already his sword was coming up towards the other false Haynuus, still happily looking humanoid. "Ardur, get behind me and run!" said Farel with feeling.

Ardur was perhaps still dazed and terrified, but obviosuly felt that being trapped behind the haze would be worse than making a move. At first he just crawled, but then it was as if a dam had burst, for upon finding the courage to move the squire scrambled to his feet and staggered swiftly out of the area, hugging the wall to perhaps seek flight around the corner.

Westian was already trying to provoke a reaction, raising his voice and holy symbol to challenge the things and allow the others to move.

Seeroc had turned already to look towards Westian, the petitioning of divine intervention perhaps drawing his attention. Falkor took the opportunity to break Seeroc's concentration by pointing out the dropped gem. Haynuus immediately scooped it up and then charged the gnome.

Westian moved back effortlessly to occupy where his comrade had beem and finished his act of holy defiance. Unfortunately either the two foes combined felt secure now, or the previous revelation of their true form (and master's attention) gave them an arrogant air. They both smiled in distain at the cleric's brandished symbol.

Farel tried to take advantage of the distraction to accost 'Haynuus', pushing him backwards. However, the thing easily dodged the knight's unsteady attempt - distracted as he was by Ardur's passage - and Farel was instead the one pushed backwards. The knight tumbled over Ardur's legs and the squire stumbled away, and Farel hit the back wall solidly, falling over and dropping his blade from his hands.

Ardur was already gone by the time 'Haynuus' shifted to stand over Farel's form, the half-orc's twin ignoring Westian to gloat over his fallen foe.


Ugh, kinda hoped the dice would be kind, and instead delivered a natural 20. Not that it means an automatic success, but in this case... Unlike normal intimidation, you can keep trying this war cry/turning. The limit per encounter is the same as the daily limit would normally be - 3+cha modifier. Note though that you seem to only be able to shake these foes mechanically, rather than make them move.

And wow, Farel could not have come off worse in that. Since Haynuus and Farel occupied the same space I reckoned Farel could get off a bullrush without an AoO. Real Westian's move stopped it being straight back, but I figured if luck was with the endeavour then pushing back towards Westian's close would be acceptable, and if Farel was really lucky it would see 'Haynuus' fall prone at the feet of 'Westian'. And drawing an AoO too!

Instead, Farel was very soundly beaten. If it had been closer, I would have let Farel off from falling prone since he started in the same square, but the margin was just so fantastically huge (1 to 22) so the poor knight is rebuked!


Meanwhile, Haynuus's run had more success. Perhaps distracted by realising the half-orc had the gem, or by being angered over Westian's evocations, Seeroc mis-judged distances and tried to summon some form of magic while Haynuus was still angry and within swinging range. With some amazing energy Seeroc seemed to bounce out of the way of the worst of the blow, receiving only a grazing wound to one hand. It was still enough to throw him out of his spellcasting.

"Perhaps I was wrong to try and shield you from your own folly earlier," said the gnome, backing away towards the table, looking to his cut hand with anger. "By all means, strike me down. It is always such a facinating journey coming back."


I figured the gnome was being confused enough he wouldn't actually take the tactical five foot step to get out of Haynuus's range. So the attack triggered after all as an AoO. So all that damage didn't go to waste after all! You can bet the gnome took the five foot step after the fact to go towards the table. Wther he has anything there, who knows?

Falkor's cry to the scorpion, disguised by all the commotion, seemed to at least ensure the creature did not simply flee backwards. It dared to this time snap back at the thing that had challenged it. A claw snapped around the waist of the grak-grak, and the scorpion focused its hate on the undead creature, squeezing its own claws and lifting the foul shaped foe up in the air to let it squirm.

The scoprion then waved the grak-grak threateningly at the two Aureks, sidestepping around and out of the way of the blue hazes.

The screamer that had been at the edge of the fray even more frantically moved upon sensing the huge creature sweep passed it.

Aww, it's hard to paint a picture of how nasty a grak-grak can be, when a scoprion is pretty nasty itself!

Back beside Westian, the two fakes engaged their foes. The fake Haynuus took advantage of Farel's fall to catch the knight and hold him down, crushing the man's throat.

The fake Westian looked with slightly less derision at the holy symbol, and instead a fury seemed to build. The creature had felt its power once, and Westian's proud words seemed to infuriate the fake even thoguh it was no longer cowed by those words. Once more, like a spoilt child demanding a toy its sibling had, this grak grak tried to grab Westian's possession.


Once again, make an AoO to stop the grab/disarm attempt. This time the AC is your own. If you miss, then the attack roll you need to get above to stop your holy symbol being grabbed is really 22 as the flanking counts, though score a 20 or 21 and I will let you contest it again with a second roll. Note you take -4 as you aren't holding a melee weapon, but it takes -4 for using a 'light' weapon (its hand) so those cancel out.

Falkor, feeling he had done enough to help his friends, decided try and strike the button before suspicion in Seeroc rose. With a powerful leap, the blue haze came back - brighting with it illumination and confinement in equal measure.


And that would seem to be that! Round 5 of the combat resolved (awaiting LB aside).

Map:
http://www.dmjump.net/seeroomfight5.jpg

[money]

"Seeroc, what can i do to help? Is there a way to control the Grak Graks? Perhaps I could use those two to take care of the Scorpian and Aurek?" Falkor pointed towards the two Aureks, it was very confusing but all he could think was that to control the Grak Graks could give him the upper hand he needed.

Whilst waiting for the reply from Seeroc, he took another look at the scrolls...surely there must be something usefull he could use, afterall Seeroc had been pushing him in that direction before the battle started. Unfortunately his search for answers didn't seem to be working (1d20 = 5)

[beowuuf]

"All in my head, all in my head," said Seeroc, taking a second to look across to Falkor and tap his head with a faint trace of the old Brighteyes. "Control your own ...grak-grak... or else run away, terribly far like that young gentleman." Seeroc motioned to Haynuus as he said grak-grak, and to Ardur after. "I do so hope he is ok. It is so very danagerous for the young and small out there." There seemed to be nothing except concern in Seeroc's voice for the squire he had almost murdered a moment before.

"Good idea, read the scrolls!" said Seeroc spotting Falkor's movements while trying to avoid Haynuus. However, Falkor could not tell exactly why reading out the complex spell description and the long history of its study would help. Five to eight paragraphs on the nature of lightning, or the effects of poisonous air, three paragraphs on one scroll about the day the writer was having at the time, and not one damn rune! Falkor would be better off going back to the other scrolls and spending an hour revisting his past classroom lectures instead of this nonsense!

It's up to you - and of course the contrary actions of your party against Seeroc - if you want to try and get more info from Seeroc about the three scrolls he highlighted. The skill check was your standard action for this turn I'm afraid - though you can still try to set up some more speech (Not too long though) so you can do / get something else next go. Techincally, you've actually got a valuable confirmation of something from Seeroc just now.

[money]

Falkor looked back toward Seeroc, he did not wish to appear weak and also realised this was perhaps not the time for questions, but he carried on in any case... "I'm not sure I understand, the three scrolls you highlighted, what should I be looking for?" Falkor frowned, he was getting frustrated but believed that Seeroc was being sincere... "I can't see any spells or runes to aid in my study, is there something else?"

Not sure if I can use a Sense Motive on his reply or will this contintue another action?

[ian_scho]

Haynuus was prepared when the gnome had started to cast his spell and so had reaped revenge on the hapless wizard the only way he knew. He realised however that next time he would not be so lucky. The warrior noted the new wound on this mighty wizard's hand now, and perhaps his magic might not defeat them all after all. There was hope, but in small quantities like the blood dripping from his hand. It was time to give the party more hope but this time in gushes.

The orc's had shaman, scouts and warriors yet never a paladin class. There was just no need for any 'order' (it was considered at best 'contrived' or at worst unhealthy). Yet, there were always a few orcs that reviled against what was unnatural, and rebelled against those that performed unholy practices. Haynuus could be considered as one of those. He was acting out his basic instincts now in assaulting against this perverse being that had immersed himself in the suffering of others.

The gnome had moved to the side of the table and suffered the consequences for a reason, of that he was sure. The choice for Haynuus was either to bull rush the diminutive wizard in an attempt to knock him prone over the other side of the table to get him away from the area or to just hit him. Well, although he was only half an orc, this time that side of his brain took the full decision. With a gem in one side of his mouth, a tongue dangling out of the other side, he swung his weapon once more with greater brute force than accuracy in an attempt to chop the gnome down the middle (1d20+7=23, 2d4+10=15).

OOC - Math time!
Haynuus get's a d20+9 normal melee attack but I'll opt to take 2 off 'accuracy' and add 2 to damage using his Power Attack ability. d20+7 He's too close to charge I believe (He's at I6, say) So instead of the usual 2d4+6, he'd now get 2d4+8, plus another two on top of that for using a 2Hweapon - 2d4+10

[beowuuf]

@money: the answers will be useable on your next go, not this go. Using a scroll will cost you a 0-level spell slot and be a standard action. I'll make you roll a d20 check, but this will influence the power of the spell released, not whether the spell fires or not. You have one lightning bolt, one poison cloud, and one 'des ew' apparently. I think you only have one 0-level spell slot left, however I will let you refresh your intelligence modifier (ie 2 ) spell slots as a minor mana recharge since you were using them while travelling previously, so that puts you back to 3 for this encounter.

"Oh, I know, whoever wrote those was so flowery, but they are simple spell scrolls - just read them and unleash the power on your half-orc, quickl-ARGH!"

Seeroc was caught by a powerful blow and didn't continue his thought due to cursing in gnomish. Apparently his magical spryness was fading, along with his shielding, and he was barely able to dodge out of the way of Haynuus's blow, taking a minor blow to the shoudler that opened a gash in his clothing and skin. The half-orc's instincts screamed that his opponent couldn't be much longer for this world.

Of course, then the gnome twisted aside and threw a fireball into Haynuus's face. The gnome was only starting to fade, he apparently still had life in him yet. Seeroc took the opportunity to also rummage in his pockets, with a flourish revealing a bright white wand.

Meanwhile, Falkor realised what Seeroc was saying. Spell scrolls - scrolls that could actually be used to directly cast spells - came in many forms. Some mages liked to just imbed the spells with a power word to be read out, some required a prepared area to be touched to unleash the spell, and others would actually give the spell, but when uttered allowed the scroll would actually provide the mana. This was a weird set of scrolls - the author had placed his entire thought processes just before casting into it. Apparently, all Falkor had to do was actually read and understand the author's mind, and at the end of it the scroll would presumably allow the spell to be cast through Falkor, just as if the writer himself were casting it when he infused the spell into the scroll however long ago.

And by the language of the spell at the start, it sounded like these were powerful spells.

Just waiting for Aurek and Westian's action, but thought I'd take the opportunity to update for Falkor, Haynuus and Seeroc since for the moment they are independant! Actually, also the grak-grak since its ahead in initiative, but the scropion and false Aurek really need real Aurek's move to solidify that area.

Ian, Haynuus will take 12 damage unless he can make a DC18 reflexes check, in which case it reduces to 6.

[ian_scho]

OOC - Haynuus will take 12 damage unless he can make a DC18 reflexes check, in which case it reduces to 6. (1d20+1=14) - doh

Edit: He has "Fortitude: +5, +9 for hot/cold environmental damage and suffocation" - doesn't help does it?

[beowuuf]

Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are short and have a temper. Or something

[ian_scho]

Brighteyes was obviously short of both temper and stature as he launched a fireball into the off-balanced half-orc, peeling away some chunks of flesh on his shoulder and lower neck. To be fair he saw it coming but was not well footed to be able to avoid it.

It hurt like hell, but the smell of his own burnt flesh was actually worse.

[oh_brother]

Westian was just about to free Farel by stabbing the fake Haynuus choking him when his attention was drawn to an explosion in the middle of the room. The real Haynuus and Seeroc were fighting and they both seemed to be in bad shape. He did not want to upset that battle by vicariously damaging the half-orc, and so decided against attacking the Grak-Grak.

He quickly examined the fake Haynuus to see if the fireball damage had travelled in the reverse direction. His hesitation was seized on though by his own doppelganger, who attempted to grab the precious holy symbol from around his neck. In response Westian lashed out with his sword and struck the monster in the face. The pain quickly transferred to Westian's own body and anger, irritation and confusion all raged in his head. How would they beat these monsters? First things first, if he could wrestle the doppelganger off Farel then the odds behind the haze would be more even. Westian reached out and wrapping an arm around his neck and the other around his waist he pulled with all his might.


OOC: Touch attack for grapple was 7 + 5 = 13. Grapple roll was 5. Perception on Haynuus was 4 + 4 =8

[beowuuf]

You beat your double with an AoO, so you get to roll damage! :p Isn't that nice! If you go for a non-lethal strike, your double will get your holy symbol

Did you want to inflict (non-lethal) damage on Haynuus if you succeed in the grapple or not? I assume not, if you do roll 1d3+strength mod for it.

[beowuuf]

Westian's blow did not seem to phase his fake, however the creature did let go of the holy symbol - so perhaps these things did share the weakening they inflicted, even if they did not feel the pain of it. Not that it mattered when there was a stabbing pain in your own body.

Westian left his temporarily distracted double to its own devices, chosing to try and concentrate on freeing Farel. Unfortunately, Haynuus's double had Haynuus's strength, and the half-orc shrugged off the hurried attempt. More importantly, the double did not turn aroudn when doing so, meaning Westian could not tell if the fireball damage from Seeroc had transferred to Haynuus's double, as Westian conjectured.

Farel tried to use the distraction to free himself from his foe, but despite a promising start was pushed back down - his prone situation was not helping him. The fake Haynuus seemed to take great joy (if such emotion could be read) in continuing to throttle his opponent.

Meanwhile, Westian's fake either did not like being ignored, or relished the fact the real Westian was distracted. Either way, the thing moved forward with determination and struck Westian a determined blow at the base of his skull, making the cleric's eyesight blur for a moment with the force of it.


Sorry, went for the punch even though your AC is pretty good, and got a natural 20. Actually, the first time I got an ERROR because I used 1d20:1d3 as the dice rolls.

Anyway, so you take maximum non-lethal damage from yourself - 5hp. If it's any consolation, you get to make an AoO against yourself if you want. Hmm, wait, that's not really a consolation is it?

Hang on, just realised - you guys with the plate mail (Aurek and yourself) wear gauntlets. That means your unarmed strikes can be lethal or non-lethal. Still think your namesake would do non-lethal though!


Ok guys - will again sidestep Aurek (he and his double are engaged in a battle with each other) and will wrap the combat around to have the first grak-grak acting.... hehe...


The screamer continued out of the room, lost in thought and sight to the combattants around. The scoprion did not move, apparently in an interrum state of fleeing or taking vengence. It certainly did not let the thing thrashing in its grasp go, concentrating all its efforts on the horror.

"Hurry, kill the half-orc!" said Seeroc to Falkor, looking in consternation to the halfling. "It won't be permenant, have no fear!"

Seeroc then saw the plight of his own creation in the claw of the scorpion. Falkor saw perhaps a momentary flicker of anger, before the gnome smiled. "Nevermind, nevermind, I am being such a negligent parent!"

Seeroc looked around with an evil grin to Haynuus. Meanwhile, in concert the grak-grak in the scorpion's grasp suddenly became a rag doll. It let its head loll and regard Haynuus, and with a twisting of its features, suddenly it became the half-orc once more. Incase Haynuus missed the sudden reversal of fortune, the fake Haynuus grabbed one of its own thumbs and twisted it until broken to get his double's attention.

There we go, I'm not sure if Falkor can do anything to interrupt that train of events, but he has the slight initiative advantage so I will be prepared to alter the above.

Otherwise, someone better do something spectacular, or else Haynuus is gunna start taking some wacky damage from the scorpion!

Map is here:
http://www.dmjump.net/seeroomfight6.jpg

[oh_brother]

"Seeroc, Falkor, open this haze. It is not too late," Westian shouted over the din of battle, hoping that he would be heard. They needed to kill Seeroc, of that he was sure, but being behind the haze meant that he could neither attack the gnome nor heal the half-orc.

He did the only thing he could do, grabbing the fake Haynuus again with all his strength in an attempt to free the knight who was beginning to turn an unpleasant blue colour.


OOC: Touch attack and grapple were 20 + 5 = 25 and 11 respectively.

[beowuuf]

Actually, you don't need to roll a touch attack for someone already in a grapple, since they are distracted, just the opposed check. So that means your really good roll goes for the hold and will probably succeed, and I can use your less stellar roll as an opposed check for your twin of Haynuus's twin doing anything!

[ian_scho]

"I can do that for you..." replied the half-orc between his teeth (and tongue and gem) "... Nearly finished here."

Haynuus was running out of ideas as to how to improve their situation, but his two handed sword was doing the thinking at the moment. The gnome and the halfling were holding this surreal conversation about magic, and Haynuus was chopping up bits of mage at the same time. This was why the academic class of citizen was surely doomed!

Once more Haynuus continued to slaughter of the gnome. (1d20+7=25, 2d4+10=14) (Moved to H7)

[money]

Falkor was pre-occupied, trying to understand the scrolls, he re-read each one to understand what it was for... with Seerocs final words it became clear, he understood the scrolls and more importantly the spells. What he had to do next was understand how best to use them... as he finished reading the carnage around him was getting worse, too many battles...

He quickly turned to seeroc, which one should i stop? There are now 2 Haynuus' will it matter which one I target?

[beowuuf]

As Seeroc snarled in pain from the blow of Haynuus, he yelled '"The one trying to kill me!"

[money]

"Of course, I should have known" Falkor turned towards Haynuus and started his generation of a Lo level fireball before stopping just short, he tried to be load and obvious enough so Seeroc could see what he was doing, this was important... "Seeroc, if you want me to fire this at him, could you at least get out of the way... us wizards have not learnt to cast fireballs around obects... by all means i can fire at the both of you, if you like!"

So far Falkor had done litle to aid Seeroc, only make matters worse - but at the same time, he hadn't done anything out of line to assist his friends - he was in a very neatral position but had at leat 'tried' to help.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus was still confused, but not stupid.

"Uuuiiiiyyyyllll get youuueee next time, Haaagghhhrffliiiing!"

Well... Maybe he was.

[beowuuf]

Haynuus's blow was powerful, and the gnome seemed to have run out of clever ways to avoid the full power of it. He cried out in great pain, apparently made all the worse by Falkor's apparently innane questions. The gnome staggered backwards, unsteady on his feet and bleeding freely from his wound. He certainly looked paler than he had.

"Permineralisation!" the gnome cried out at Haynuus brandishing the wand, and then lowered it with a shaking hand. The gnome then gave a black look at Falkor. "Is this far enough?" the gnome said with uncharacteristic nastiness in his voice. The diminutive mage then looked longingly towards the pile of rubbish in the corner.

To anyone on the outside - Falkor included - it might have been unclear why the gnome suddenly decided the half-orc was no threat. However, after Seeroc had pointed the wand at Haynuus - or at least Haynuus's legs - the half orc had suddenly found himself unable to move them. Not that this was the most pressing matter on his mind, all of a sudden his throat started constricting as if he was being choked, and his chest started collspsing in on itself as if he were being crushed by invisible jaws. Was all that caused by one little wand?

The answer was found by looking around the room. While the uncaring grak-grak wearing Haynuus's face watched in interst, the scorpion carried trying to crush the life from its foe. Falkor could, perhaps hear the snarl of the scorpion and realise it was yelling something akin to 'wrong' at the thing in its claw.

Meanwhile, Westian was continuing to try and aid Farel before Farel was throttled by Haynuus's other twin. This time Westian's powerful movement gained purchase against the distracted fake, and 'Hyaynuus' was yanked back as Westian tried to inflict some crushing damage to force his enemy to let go.

Neither combatant inflicting injuries on the grak-graks with Haynuus's face seems to regard Haynuus's distress at the moment.

Ok Ian, Haynuus is about to have a bad round. Westian, via a grak-grak - will just have infliced 4 non-lethal damage to Haynuus. More importantly, the scoprion - via the other grak-grak - will just have infliced 15 lethal crush damage to you. Most importantly, for the next round Haynuus will be immobilised. That means, while he still has his move action, he can't actually use it to move anywhere. Haynuus could still do move equivalent actions like grab potions, etc. Also, of course, he still has his standard action to yell abuse, throw things with, try a skill check that doens't require his legs, etc. At the end of your next turn, roll me a fortitude save. Try to pass it


Meanwhile, back with Westian, only Farel could see that 'Haynuus' did not care abotu the injury the cleric was inflicting, not letting go of the knight's throat. However, at least Westian's actions gave Farel the chance he needed to at least push himself upright.

Farel stood face to face with the fake Haynuus, yellign a brief thanks across the half-orc's shoulder to the cleric. That thanks became a yell of warning as Westian's double came up behind the cleric to throttle him. The two acted in concert, almost missing each other as they moved at the same time. However, Westian's double managed to flick an arm out and catch it around Westian, yanking the original Westian's arm back painfully.

As Westian cries out in surprise, Farel too cried out - for infront of his eyes, Haynuus's face melted away and was replaced by Westian's. It was a terrifying and disconcerting sight, seeing three WEstian's staggered one behind the other, all engaged in a chain of grappling.

Cool visual, only realised it as I was typing - I know it would freak me out. Westian takes 4 non-lethal damage from his double...umm, from one of them. Ok, despite saying you guys are in a chain, really its one big dogpile as you shift around. Westian is free to target anyone with an action, though needs to beat both doubles if he wants to try and move the dogpile around or break out. Sadly, as does Farel now! At least he can try with a better bonus now he's got back up!

Seeroc seemed to ignore the yells of Haynuus and Westian in regards to betrayal and giving up, just as he seemed to be ignoring the apparently incompetent halfling. Infact, Seeroc seemed to be in a very bad way, focused fully on getting to the corner of the room without falling over.

Yeah, that last blow of Haynuus's really knocked the wind out of the little windbag.

The map looks like this:
http://www.dmjump.net/seeroomfight7.jpg

Interestingly, if you guys knew what I knew, this fight could be over pretty frickin' quickly. Sadly, you don't so I figure it will carry on until just after easter. Unless you surprise me. Or I surprise you bigger first. Hopefully my surprises will be nice ones

[Ameena]

Anyone looking in the direction of the door at this moment might suddenly notice a small figure standing there, peering into the room. The figure resembles some kind of large rodent, like a rat, only considerably bigger (enough to be almost Falkor's height, were it to stand on its hind legs) and wearing, for some reason, a brown travelling cloak and...possibly something else, currently concealed beneath the drapes of the cloak.
The rodent-creature looks somewhat worse for wear, clear bite marks and bloodstains on its forelegs. It looks around from its vantage point, its gaze falling momentarily on Haynuus, then Falkor - this causes its ears to perk up suddenly in an apparent surge of excitement.
Then the creature looks past Falkor, toward Soorec, and after the briefest of pauses suddenly darts straight forward and disappears behind the stone, altar-like table.

[money]

Falkor wasted little time, it was clear Seeroc was in a bad way, now was the time to attack, while he was at his weakest and attempting to get to the corner (no doubt there was something vital there or he was trying to escape). Falkor hit the button to drop the force field, turned to Seeroc and casted the most powerfull fireball he could... Falkor only hoped Seeroc was in such a bad way trying to get across the room that he wouldn't even know what had hit him.

OOC: Bluff requested (now invalid i suspect) 1d20=13, Fireball damage 3d6+3 => 4,4,1 +3 = 12

[beowuuf]

Have you cast anything yet? If not, 3d6+3 damage, though you might want to take a five foot step to avoid getting caught in the blast

[beowuuf]

Money, remember to say where you move to... it might be important

[ian_scho]

The whole Permineralisation! thing had scared Haynuus stiff... Perhaps that was the idea. His legs had a feeling stone, and he was effectively immobilised with the gnome more than an arms length away. Oh the frustration! It was then he heard his rib cage cracking and started to cough up some blood. Euuuk! On top of all of this his vision tunnelled, he started seeing stars, and a ginormous furry hamster was scrambling under the table in front of him. Something really hurt him and his mind was playing tricks on him due to the pain.

The half-orc dropped to 'old-school' mode and started to unbuckle his trousers yet... His spare club! Reaching into his backpack in one practiced motion he threw the club into the face of the gnome with all his force (1d20+5=13, 1d4=3, 1d6=1, 1d8=5). OOC - Sorry, don't know how much damage he does d4, d6, d8? Pick one! He was helpless, yet certainly felt better.

After that, Haynuus concentrated with all his might on moving a toe, anything. Just to get himself out of this cursed spell. OOC - Fortitude save (1d20+5=22)

[beowuuf]

Falkor apparently knew the moment had come, now that Seeroc was weakest, and showed his true colours. The halfling ran to block the gnome's journey. Perhaps because of his daze, the gnome did not seem to look towards the halfling's movements, and instead looked back at the half-orc.

He saw the half-orc winding up to hit him, and was distracted long enough to realise that Falkor was not casting a spell towards Haynnus.

"Wha-" was as far as the gnome got before the ON fireball hit the gnomish mage fully in the chest, launching him in a strange spin that saw him fall to the floor. There was a charred smell, though already the super-heated flames were extinguishing.

Mnay things then happened, metaphorically, at once.

Firstly, the light around Seeroc went out. Combined with the removal of the blue hazes a moment before by Falkor's athletic jump at the switch (OOC: I'll let the bluff stand for the athletics check to hit the switch on the way, this led to areas of darkness and dull light as only Farel's discarded torch cast any illumination.

Secondly, in that dim illumination Falkor could swear, perhaps, he was seeing things. Even as the fireball sailed out, he swore he saw a figure that looked like Ameena by the table. The murafu's cries to not kill Seeroc, and sudden appearance, seemed to be like some attack of conscience. If so, Falkor was in trouble, for the figure did not disappear when the light was removed, and was still visible in the dim light, looking shocked and worried.

Thirdly, all around the room, all the doubles suddenly dropped their facades. Farel no longer had the disconcerting triple Westians to deal with, all of a sudden two horrors were grasping him with powerful hands. Westian, too, realised he was being sandwiched between these undead horrors. They felt at once dry and yet oily, and the smell was like the odd combination of an ancient mummy and yet a swamp. It was all the two warriors could do not to gag at the stench of them, and lose their nerve at the wrongness and power of their touch.

Fourthly, all the grak-graks, in unison, screamed.

However, it was not in pain - or no identifiable pain. And it was not in frustration, as if screaming for their lives before their existances were snuffed out. No, the harmonics were very, very clear. Rage. Primal rage.

Lastly, Haynuus's thrown club smashed into one of the Grak-graks holding Farel. Sadly, the creature didn't seem to care.

Ok guys, this was always going to be potentially pretty bad if it happened. And I then just rolled attacks and damage which, OH MY GOD, show my dice hate you. Well, your dice too since I use inviisble castle. So yeah, it's pretty bad. My lowest roll was a 10, and that was where it really ended up not mattering, as it was to oppose Farel's escape attempt. His natural 1 escape attempted. Luckily, I rolled a 2 for the random part of the damage. Against the scorpion that's freaked out anyway. All the rest of you guys took maximum damage there Like, 1 in 216 chance of that, not adjusting for computer rolling non-randomness in Invisible Castle. Umm, yeah, So, luckily in this room there was a continuation planned even if I TPK right now.

The grak grak in the grasp of the scoprion easily broke free in its rage, and smashed its taloned hands down hard into the scoprion's carapace. Ichor flew freely, but rather than yeild, the scorpion perhaps recognised the weakened form of its foe, and snarled at the grak grak, clashing its claw.

If Falkor heard the scorpion, he might have reognised the 'words' to mean roughly 'wrong' and 'kill'. However, Falkor was distracted by something other than the screaming grak-graks in the room and the apparent re-appearance (he would surely hope) of Ameena. Falkor - close to the wall Seeroc indicated was fake that supposidly lead to stairs and a deeper lair - could hear faintly further shrieks of rage from other grak-graks somewhere down there.

Meanwhile, Westian and Farel could not free themselves of the horrors that held them. Farel was perhaps thrown the most, especially when a club smashed right infront of his face. However he used that distraction to then try and struggle free with all the tricks of his knightly skill. Unfortunatelty, these undead terrors were too far gone in their rage to do anything but pull their prey close and unleash their fury.

Westian felt the force of the blow from one of the thing's other hand, and barely registered that the claws had forced a weakness in his armour and imbedded themsleves into him, before jaws clamped onto his neck. Westian's mind, already groggy from the exertion of the battle, blissfully shut down.

Wow, so you take the first of the three sets of 16 hit points worth of damage. That leaves Westian with 2hp to spare. Sadly, he's taken 8 non-lethal, so he's now on the floor unconscious for now. Sorry!

If it's any consollation, Farel took the same damage, and with his higher non-lethal damage also joins you in the land of nod. Just bad combination of me getting good rolls where it counted and occasional bad rolls placed where it didn't matter. That and these guys are nasty.

Haynuus was perhaps too pre-occupied to initially spot the fall of the cleric. All he knew was that his legs had, thankfully, started working again.

Ian, that fort save stopped Haynuus from going along a pretty nasty path. He's free to move around next round. Dear god does the group need that to happen!


In a way the tide had turned - the grak graks seemed focused on each foe infront of them, and were free of tricks and in their true form. Of course, that meant two were tearing into the scoprion and Aurek, while the other two seemed determined to keep attacking the already fallen Westian and Farel.

Haynuus and Falkor had managed to kill the mage, and yet victory was far from secured. What should they do next? Help their fallen comrades, or use the distraction to call on Aurek to flee with them out of the nearest exit - an exit Haynuus could hopefully close with the contents of his mouth.

Also, who was the shadowy figure that resembled Ameena? Could it truly be Ameena?



So....yeah. Youch. Map's here: http://www.dmjump.net/seeroomfight8.jpg

So, just to clarify. Ameena who is really Ameena, who else would it be, is standing by Falkor and Haynuus - Haynuus with his height and closeness to the stone slab table thing would probably see her if she stood up. Seeroc, who is really Soorec actually, is really dead - I might have put the question mark over it, but Haynuus's club fun deserves a reaction. Owing to how bad the situation is, Ian, I'm willing to play the turn straight and let you re-task the club throw if you want (as would surely happen in a live game) and have the club be thrown at a grak-grak instead. Note the damage is 1d6, so you rolled a 1 there

Haynuus does indeed have the gem that Seeroc/Soorec/Brighteye seemed to be able to open and surely close the door of.

Farel and Westian are both lying unconscious - meaning they are prone and helpless. The grak graks don't look like they are shifting focus, and so at the end of next turn, you can imagine the grak graks might just coup de grace both of them. Ie - kill them dead. Worse than Falkored.

Aurek is currently being damaged now, since I can't really let him float in limbo. However, if anyone decides to run, I'll autopilot him leaving too... and if LB wants Aurek to stay, obviously he can be retconned back into the room.

Edit: LB seems to be back, so LB, I'll let you give me Aurek's move, though it will trigger at the end of this round.


So yeah, there's something brown, there was a spinning set of blades, then there was a slushy sound, and now being are falling down. You guys can still win through, or you guys can cut your losses now and figure out how to turn this around later. It's getting pretty brutal though....


Good luck - more so than normal!

[Ameena]

As the fireball sails through the air, the rodent-like creature, in the process of peering around the stone altar in the direction of the gnome, quickly ducks back out of view and yells one word.
"No!"
Too late, of course. The fireball, and then the club, hit the gnomish mage and he crumples to the ground. As the grak-graks start screaming in rage, the apparent-murafu peers back around the altar.
"Oh no..." she mutters.
Then she looks over at Falkor.
"Can you remember?" she asks. "Can you remember what to do about them? I...can't..."
She turns away from him almost immediately, moves back alongside the altar in the direction she came from until she's standing at the other end of it, catches sight of the melée going on with Farel, Westian, and their two grak-graks, then does another about-turn and darts across the room to start rooting through the pile of objects that the gnome had been making for before Falkor's fireball hit.

[ian_scho]

Falkor had launched the fireball into the gnome and suddenly Haynuus was glad that he wasn't really standing right next to him. Ameena's 'Nooo' was followed by a 'Fine by me' thought that passed the half-orc's mind. He was about to launch his club at the gnome's head but as the multi-talented halfling had turned off the blue haze as well he chose to throw it at the thing strangling the knight. Both of them had suddenly changed from an intelligent evil to liquid chaos and had started with frenzied attacks on both Farel and Westian. The club hit one of them but would do little real damage while Haynuus in desperation charged the other (1d20+9=10, 2d4+10=14) (OOC - +2, powerAttack) attacking Westian while he was on the floor. Their situation was dire, and worse yet Haynuus had realised that the screamer had gotten away.

[money]

Seeing the mage fall, and then Ameena it all came back to him. Once more Ameena would no doubt consider HIM the monster, still his friends were in a bad way - If Ameena knew anything it was now that she needed to step up and help. Falkor cast light, it was hard to see anything and if Ameena was looking for something to help, the light might help. He moved towards the pile... "What are we looking for? Will it help the others? They are in a bad way."

[beowuuf]

Ian, what's going ot happen next will give Haynuus an AoO against one of the two grak-graks. Money, roll me a knowledge (arcana) check for what Ameena might reveal to you! OB ... you just keep right on keeping on