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

[beowuuf]

Well, the Trolins were a special case where even their scent disappeared. The difference between Falkor being there and not won't register a few seconds afterwards. Give me a perception check if Ameena will stay in the same position and try to detect a strong scent coming fro ma direction Falkor has not been. Given he's walked alot of the room, the DC will be pretty high, even for Ameena. Assumign there's even anythign to find

And yeah, I forgot to say ahead of time, I don't believe this will have been seen by anyone under 'alternate' memories.

[Ameena]

OOC - Wasn't specifically his scent she was sniffing for - I used that word instead of saying that she felt around with her whiskers more than really smelling for him - obviously the spot he was just standing in will smell strongly of him unless the portion of air occupied by him disappeared too, in wich case I suppose there'd be a Falkor-less area of air until the rest sort of diffused inside (which I don't imagine would take too long). Ameena was more trying to feel around with her whiskers to check he hadn't gone invisible or something, and since I figured he probably has definitely disappeared, I had her find nothing .

[beowuuf]

Fair enough then

[oh_brother]

"Well Brighteyes, I appreciate the difference a name can make, but the main reason we wanted to confront you was because we thought you had kidnapped or killed Ardur. And that you knew the location of Deephold. And both of those did turn out to be true, although happily we have put all that behind us, and we shall dwell on it no more. The future is far more important than the past."

But the more that the gnome said, the more it was clear that the priest they were going to meet was the one whom Westian had seen in his dreams. With a multitude of unpleasant thoughts invading his mind all he could do was shake his head when Soorec questioned him about seeing the spider queen or about Farel meeting some female in the ethereal plane.

Then his attention was drawn straight back to the halfling, or rather the empty space where the halfling had stood. This Falkor was full of surprises, and every time that Westian felt he understood him something like this happened to throw him off again. He looked at Soorec. Perhaps at least this would end the feud concerning the stolen trinkets.

[beowuuf]

Soorec is so taken aback that Haynuus and even Ameena get to check the spot out. The gnome blinks, and the blinks again.

"Move," says the gnome finally. "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!" he screams again, and sudden;y his grak-graks bully their ways into the area, swinging left and right. Soorec throws fireballs left and right until he is sweating, and then he yells something incoherent. One of his grak-graks, barely respembling Haynuus, scrambles around the potions shelves knocking bottles off left and right.

Eventually it finds a set of dark green bottles, and begins throwing them in the rough area one after the other. Ameena's and Haynuus's nostrils instantly detect something bad is being thrown into the area. Soorec's grak-grak has misjudged the distance, and Soorec is forced to take a few steps back from the green mist that explodes into the room.

Despite a streaming nose and eyes, Soorec keeps wiping his face with his robed arm and stars left and right intently into the drifting green miasma. His breathing slows, and his streaming eyes and nose eventually cease.

Much calmer,the gnome sighs, and then shrugs. "Well...umm...Ameena... I do not magine you have seen him do anything like that. I would imagine he has been very careful to hide such powers." Spoorec shakes his head, and then gestures to the sky. "I should have obeyed Gholst right away, and not been swayed. He obviously wanted the halfling de.... oh."

Soorec. Turns to Westian, although he is obviously not really speaking to the cleric, just adressing the one closest. "He saw Gholst. I thought...oh my!" Soorec then properly addressed Westian, and Ammena and Haynuus in turn. "Your halfling friend...he...and this will be an unusual question...did he ever...intereact with you physically in any meaningful way? I don't mean manifesting an object, I mean actually engaging in fights, opening doors, picking things up for a prolonged period of time, and so forth?"

Soorec looks expectantly at the group. "This may be hard to hear, but it is the most likely explanation. Please think about it - a creature who stands back from combat all the time? Can manipulate energy? Does not fear death? The halfling - whereever you discovered him - was obviously a ghost!"

Soorec looks left and right, apparently looking for consensus. "Please confirm my suspicions. The halfling has not turned invisible, he has - with nothing but will - actually gone. Onl;y two creatures can do that. Ghostly apparitions that can simply leave this plane to move through to others. The only other explanation is far, far worse. Only a High Lord - or a devoted apprentice of one - can transport themselves at will. Theron, to my knowledge, is one of the very few apprentices to a High Lord, because the Grey Lord is the only High Lord who stayed in this realm. And even he is limited in the ways he can travel. If Falkor can actually teleport at will - without using the natural energies of a place he knows. Well, then things are far, far worse."

Soorec walks around in a distraction for many moments, and then finally recalls the group. "Oh, I am so sorry. You were doing what I am sure - in your limited experience- was best. Really though, you should have let me kill whatever this halfling was. If I even could have. Anyway, my reason to accompany you has ceased, you no longer have a murdering danger to defend. I'll let a few of my little ones guide you to the priest. I have far more important and pressing thigns to attend to now. Please, Ameena, ou gave your word you would come back. And my dear priest, I shall need your assurance you will come back this way once you have finished you mission. Wait, priests. The priest. Could this be one of his machinations? Hmm...perhaps you should move fast, incase this halfling was a spirt under the priest's control!"

Soorec once more looks to the group. His blur of movements and barely directed comments ceases, with an expectant air.


Lol, so there you go. Falkor has got Soorec extrememely confused, misdirected, and most importantly off your back. You'll still have two grak-graks accompanying you though. Anyway, what is the group's thoughts? Get the heck out of dodge and hope to see Falkor on the other side? Or do you want to press the poor, confused gnome?

[ian_scho]

Haynuus didn't know how the halfling performed his magic disappearing act but he was pretty sure that ghosts didn't lob fireballs around and get cut to pieces by soldiers in black. He wanted to tell Brighteyes about Falkor's magic cloak he picked up, or that maybe there was a rune that they didn't know about that could help you disappear from view.... But no, it was just better to leave the gnome in his state of confusion. Especially as the unhinged gnome was pretty free with firing off his spells.

"The halfling just looked like a normal short-fat pipe-wielding short-ass to me, and I'm pretty sure he ate, drank, slept and stuff came out the other end after he woke up. Not a ghostly apparition at all. Still, he did have something to hide, of that I'm sure."

"To be fair we don't even need your grak-grak's.... But still. I am ready to leave with the others. There may be more screamers waiting!"

Suddenly, Haynuus felt more vulnerable as they were so few in numbers again. Worse still that they were all probably in a state of mental confusion as well.

OOC - ohhh, a special Falkor adventure. I'll not read this one.

[beowuuf]

Oops, I forgot to say - Falkor retains everything he had. He didn't drop his cloak!

[Ameena]

Privately, Ameena rather disagrees with Soorec's suggestion that Falkor is a "goast", a creature with no real physical form. As a murafu, she's been in physical contact with each of the other members of the group - she can't clearly remember every specific incident of being so, but surely she must have. As a murafu, it's part of who she is.
But she doesn't mention this out loud - if Soorec is confused enough to no longer want to come with the group, then perhaps that's a good thing - she can remain with her friends. Though she isn't too sure she likes the thought of going near this...priest.
Hmm...priest...
A thought occurs to Ameena. She turns to Westian.
"Don't priests always umm...follow the ways of...powerful...creatures? Those High Lords? I think...I mean, I might have heard that...that the High Lords give magic to priests who follow their ways, and that's what makes their spells work. And different High Lord people have different types of magic, and different types of...followers. So..."
At this point she turns rather uncertainly in Soorec's direction.
"Do you know which High Lord this priest follows? Maybe that will tell us something about him, about what we can expect."
She pauses briefly, then speaks again as a slightly hasty afterthought.
"Of course, I might be wrong about all this - with so much in the world worth learning about, I haven't yet had time to learn about...well, most of it, I think. Magical things are still...umm...well, I haven't really got to that part yet. I mainly just know about the things I've experienced myself."

[beowuuf]

"Lolth, the demon queen, hence my asking before," said Soorec distracted by the question. "Demons have no real power in this realm, and once they do, they do not need whoever is foolish enough to let them in anymore. Even Chaos kept the demons he feed shackled in bodies and survitude. I do not believe they were best pleased with that." Soorec waved his hand dismissively.

I've borrowed Lolth from D&D too, but as you might spot, the name isn't exactly placed where it should be...

Westian knew this was only partially true. That the priest Soorec warned them of was once a priest of Lilith, brother of Corellon. The High Lords lived in truce, and only took upon themselves devoties that would further the High Lord's cause with their own minds and power. Aside from the occasional boon, clerics and priests and paladins produced their own gifts in the name of the High Lords. However, Lilith had formed an alliance with the demon queen Lolth. And demons were not as shy as High Lords at giivng gifts to those who tried to follow them. While the demons of Anaias and the Demon Gate closeby had always been associated with fire, Lolth herself was known to be represented by icy and darkness. Each demon needed to come to the material plane through one of the elemental planes, and Lolth had chosen to suck the life from the waters that granted life. The priest followed Lolth now, and so it was possible this dark priest could leech life through the conduit of water. And possible he possessed abilities aligned with cold magics.

Thought I'd better update, since really Westian knows more with certain rolls than Soorec would (or would share), but of course OB doens't yet because there was no point in doing information overload.

[Ameena]

OOC - Looks like you'd better start rolling Religion, OB . And yes, I am familiar with Lolth. Well, I know the name. I was thinking she was the Raven Queen but maybe I'm getting confuzzled with someone else (and I can't be arsed to check right now). Then again, I have another image of Lolth being a spider. Meh. I'll check it at some point.

[beowuuf]

He already did, two good ones, hence for a little while he gets any info he needs on the priest.

[ian_scho]

OOC - I didn't mean to say that Haynuus picked up the cloak, but Falkor did earlier I wrote that a bit ambiguously, me thinks.

[oh_brother]

Westian grasped the hilt of his sword tightly as Soorec started to vent his anger on the empty air. It looked as if this was going to get out of hand, but gradually the gnome relaxed, as did Westian's grip on the sword.

He listened to the gnome, and wondered. There was something funny about Falkor, but could he really be a ghost? After a moment's thought he dismissed this idea, the halfling had fought the soldiers, and had broken bread with the rest of them.

"I don't know Brighteyes, I really don't know..." He was tempted to ask Soorec if ghost's often stole his equipment, but thought better of it.

Yes, Lolth is the spider queen in forgotten realms...if you have played BG2 or some of the NWN expansion packs you will have fought against her already!

[beowuuf]

The party were not particularly helpful - perhaps for the best - and Soorec lost interest to be assited up onto his table again. Two of his grak-graks, oddly resembling Westian, moved towards the scroll shelves and started sifting through as if looking for something.

"Time is swiftly slipping through the glass...of...metaphor,"said Soorec eventually, "please, feel free to take your leave."

Several grak-graks stood close. One had Soorec's medallion in his hand, apparently ready to act as a doorman - he looked like Haynuus. The two grak-graks that were to act as guides remained in their natural form. Theri deep, empty eyesockets made the eyes water to look at. Thier natural oily smell was enough to make the party gag.

None of the creatures looked in the mood for questioning nor interruptiosn as they took up their posts to allow the party to continue onwards.

The southern door to this room - as Haynuus's compass would indacate direction, at least - rumbled open. There was a musty scent from beyond, and an odd faint echo of wind.


And there we go, time to move. Last quips before you guys leave, and a party order might be a good idea. With only two grak-graks, both will take the lead unless someone tries to walk alongside. The corridor beyond is as before - the very light rocky passageways.

Finally get you guys moving tomorrow!

[oh_brother]

"Very well, I hope to see you again," Westian bowed as he spoke. "The grak-graks can lead us to the priest, but once we get there it we probably won't need them anymore." While they could prove useful, their presence also meant that the hideous gnome would still have some power over the group. "At that point they can just turn around, Brighteyes, and come back the way they came."

Westian then looked at his companions. Just four of them now, he hoped they were ready for it.

Ameena seemed stronger than before, maybe the new set of memories she seemed to have belonged to a more powerful version of the murafu they had separated from earlier. He still wished he knew what had happened to Helm, but perhaps he would never know. Probably best to just put him on the ever-changing "missing" list. Ardur was ticked off it, but Deephold, Helm and now Falkor were still on there.

Haynuus, well, he seemed untroubled by anything. He still walked along as if this was all in a day's work. It had been good luck finding him in that inn.

And Aurek, Westian could tell from his unusually long silence that he was in deep contemplation. Maybe he was praying for a safe journey. I just hope that he finishes whatever he is up to by the time we reach the priest.

"Okay people, are we ready? Haynuus and I up front, Ameena and Aurek in the back? How does that sound?"

OOC: I suppose it should be Aurek up front instead of Westian, but since he is not around it might be less complicated to leave him in the rear?

[Ameena]

Ameena looks up at Westian as he suggests the order in which they move. She puts her head to one side and considers his suggestion.
"I could go first." she says. "I mean...I can smell things better than you, and I think my hearing is better too. I know my eyesight isn't but you can just look over my head."
She gives a slightly amused whisker-twitch at this last suggestion, then continues.
"Since I'm so much closer to the ground than the rest of you, I'll hopefully be able to find anything that you might otherwise have stepped in. I mean, this place can have some rather subtle little...umm...traps, and things, can't it? And if something nasty comes along and tries to attack me, I'll just run behind the rest of you so I don't get stepped on."
She briefly glances up at the, it must be said, horribly-smelling grak-graks, and wonders what they'll be doing as the group moves on. She feels rather uncomfortable with them around - she's discovered over the course of her recent past that she really doesn't much like undead things - bodies that walk around and attack people when they should be lying somewhere quietly rotting just aren't really the kind of thing she enjoys encountering. They hold absolutely no prospect of conversation, for one thing. And they stink. And...well, they don't really do very much except attack people. At least, knowing as she does that they are just basically dead bodies with no will or spirit of their own, there is no need to feel guilty about "hurting" them - how can a dead body feel pain?

OOC - Thought it might make more sense to have Ameena go at the front for exploration purposes - I haven't checked the character sheets but I imagine she probably has the highest Perception. Probably. And from an RP point of view, she'll be able to smell stuff a whole lot better when she's not walking in the middle of the newly-forming (and very familiar) scent trails fo the rest of the group . Like she said - if something attacks, she can just leg back behind everyone else.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus was happy to leave. As he was still in a state of confusion, not helped by a disappearing halfling, he would be happier on the move. "Yeah, thanks for the potions Brighteyes. I'll tell you an interesting story if I get back, ok?" And with that he waved to the gnome who was already preoccupied with other matters involving paper and chattering to himself.

"That sounds good Ameena. I'm sure these... Grak-graks know where they are going but you could detect any danger that appears with legs on." He chuckles to himself. Having guides is one thing, coming up against more trolin would be another. The thought then occurred to him that in a battle what would these animated abominations do? They were assured to defend themselves but would they be relied upon to fight with the party as a whole if it was threatened? Perhaps Haynuus was more likely to rush to the aid of his fellow breathing party members, that was guaranteed.

He assumed position with Westian, immediately behind the grak-graks. Ameena seemed happy to scatter either around their feet where they stood, or stand on her hind legs up in front of them and peer into the darkness. Their paladin, composed and thoughtful once more, returned the nod to Haynuus. He did not look happy patrolling with the undead, but he had little choice for now.

[beowuuf]

The door closed once the party had walked forward. There was a farewell noise from Soorec, although the exact wording of it and intent was lost in the rattling of the door as is closed shut. Something about the grak-graks not being a problem, something about Westian remembering, and something about 'Understanding'.


Soprrec had mentioned already he wouldn't be coming with you - that and his grak-graks would not intrude into the priest's domain. So yeah, you will get to shrug off your grak-grak guides at some poiint providing you didn't shakwe them off or kill them off before that!


The two grak-graks took point, apparently not caring for the murafu trying to thread her way around their legs. Their smell became overpowering quickly, but staying just ahead of them at least the oncoming air could be briefly tested.

The corridor turned quite quickly left, and the part walked its meandering path as dictated by the grak-graks. They had a slow, steady pace - they seemed to stalk by default. Ameena spotted a pressure pad close, which the grak-graks already walked right over before it registered. The remaining party could relatively easily jump over it if desired.


Let me know if you decide to walk over the pad or not. Oh, and also you forgot to nominate who is holding a torch... if it's Haynuus, he'll have to drop it in combat. If it's Westian (or Aurek), then no shield use.


Something that was detectable to all was that Soorec's room must have had some form of artifical cooling. Very oddly, the air had a slight warmth to it. It was almost pleasant. Ameena couldn't further smell, beyond the mustiness, something else. Only because of the recent sight of the scoprion did that idea come to mind. Very faint scorpion smell.

The corridor quite briefly came to a t-junction. Without much indication, the grak-graks took the right hand corridor, which seemed even more rocky and craggy that the surrounding walls. That corridor seemed to end in a dead end quite quickly. Without much care, the grak-graks took it in turn to move loose stones and reeatedly punch others. In a few moments, it was obvious a crack was forming - that there was an empty space beyond this wall the grak-graks were seeking to widen.

However, it was also clear it might take a few moments. Meanwhile, the left hand corridor ended in a partially buried wooden door, and the central path seemed to come to another crossroads quite quickly. The party were, for the moment, free to roam.


Anyway, I think I will leave you guys there. Wanna check out the door? Wanna check out any of the corridors? Wanna go back and check out the pressure plate - it's dull, just a nod to something to do with Soorec's room - or do you wanna help the grak-graks? Ameena, being small, could potentially try to get through the wlal crack when it gets slightly wider. Of course, it might be damgerous to get in the way of grak-graks working, or might just be structurally damgerous.

See what everyone does, be cool to update again tonight!

[beowuuf]

Oh, and note you can probably talk without being overheard right now too

[Ameena]

OOC - I don't think Ameena ever actually noticed the Scorpion - I'm pretty sure she didn't ever look in that direction 'cause there was too much going on by the door where she was. I may be wrong, however.

As the party moves off, Ameena, on all-fours, goes to the front of the group and keeps her nose to the ground and her eyes ahead as they head along the corridor. She keeps a vague mental note of the sound of the grak-graks just behind her, but tries to keep ahead of them so they don't interfere too much with any scents she detects on the ground or in the air. There isn't much around, though.
When she comes to the stone pad on the floor she easily moves around it, figuring it's large enough that the rest of the party will notice it. They've encountered plenty like it in the past, after all.
Eventually the grak-graks make a turning and start attempting to bash their way through a wall. Ameena pauses, watching them for a few moments, then sniffs carefully around the air and the floor nearby and for a few steps down each of the other nearby routes to see what she can detect - she is careful to sniff around the rubble-obscured door to see whether she can detect any scents coming from beyond it, and keeps her ears open at all times for any noises besides that of the grak-graks digging and the movement of her friends.

OOC - Yep, you guessed it...Perception check . Woohoo 29 (20+9).

[oh_brother]

Westian had one goal in mind, and so paid no attention to the rest of the dungeon as he walked through. To be safe he avoided stepping on the pressure pad, but otherwise just walked behind the grak-graks, lost in thought. He was still shaken by his dream and by what the gnome had said.

Just to break the silence and distract himself he began to speak. "So, does anybody have an idea what happened to Falkor? He must be more powerful than I thought. Or else he had the use of some powerful magic item. Although he cannot have stolen it from Soorec, because the gnome seemed as shocked as we were. In fact he looked like he had seen a ghost. A ghost that had stolen all his best stuff." Westian could not suppress a laugh at the idea.

OOC: Westian is not really the exploring type, he just wants to get the job done, so he won't be looking at the door. He also won't be helping the grak-graks, he will just wait until they are done.

[beowuuf]

There was that whole bit where the scorpion came at everyone then exploded - I think that was noticeable. Plus scoprions in general will have happened at some point!


Ameena smells age coming from the door. Whatever is behind it, or has been buried there, has not been disturbed in a while. Coming from the direction of the grak-graks digging, more and more, comes a smell and feel of moisture in the air. On the edge of hearing, there a ...noise. A very low rumble of something. A creature? Air moving in a large cavern? Water? All of them?

The noise of the grak=graks moving loose rock without care starts to grate on Ameena's ears. It is certainly very persistanct as the grak-graks move with relentless monotony. And the noises very obviously carry. Once more, for some reason the ascent drifting from the new corridor very strongly reminds Ameena of scorpions. Giant yellow scorpions.

As Westian ignored the graj-graks, so the grak-graks ignored him. Ignoring him to the point that he had to shift more than once to avoid loose rock and even head sized boulders carelessly trapping his foot.


I assume Ameena and Ian might want the sniffing information for any further actions, OB sensibly is takign the 'let's not mess around' strategy

[ian_scho]

The half-orc imitated what the grak-grak's did on the pressure pad. If they stepped on it, he did as well. Practically following their footprints, as he was getting a little paranoid at the moment.

When they strated their task, Haynuus was happy to let some one else do the heavy shifting. It was nearly always his job for the past few years of his life to do the heaving so it made a nice change. While he didn't want to disturb Ameena obviously working on scents around the alternative corridor he couldn't help but poke around a bit the area of the door. He tentatively shifted a few stones out of the way of the door, but not a lot else. He was more preoccupied with what they were getting themselves into.

"So, what's your plan with this priest, Mister Westian?" he asked under his breath. It sounded like it will be fun, what ever happens.

[Ameena]

OOC - Ameena wanted the sniffing infomation because it's what she does (like any other murafu) - investigate anything new in order to find out as much as possible about it .

BIC - Ameena picks through the scents with care, sifting through them in her mind and working out what they are. She sniffs down the corridor with growing concern and, after a while, rejoins Haynuus and Westian, standing upright in order to see them better.
"There's some kind of...rumbling sound, coming from the direction they're digging." she says in a quiet voice and gesturing in the direction of the grak-graks. "It might be water...like a river, or something. or maybe it's just something very...large. I don't think it sounds familiar. That other path smells like...like those giang scorpion-creatures we've met before. The ones that are sort of yellowy-gold in colour. And umm...huge. And aggressive. And...scary. I don't think we should go that way. The door just smells...old. As though it's been shut for a long time and whatever's behind it most likely hasn't been disturbed in all that time. I can't hear anything from behind it."
She sits back on her haunches to let her friends assimilate this information, and waits to see what they'll say or do.

[ian_scho]

"Ill clear the rubble away from the door, then, just in case we need an exit!"[+], he started to pull the loose bits of stone blocking the entrance with more urgency now. "I think our priority is to follow the grak-grak's but... Maybe there are screamers or something behind the door?" It was almost a fantasy, but poking around in this place tended to get you into trouble. He worked quickly so as to finish before the undead did at the other end of the corridor. It sounded like when they got through, it would require their full attention as to what was on the other side.

[+] Ahhh, happy memories in DM of running away from scorpions to the safety behind a portcullis.

[beowuuf]

As Haynuus stood closer to the door and actually moved some of the rubble at the base, it became clear that the door was the worse for wear, and it was also easy to imagine the cause of it. There were the occasionally very thin digs into the wood, and other largers and shallower chipping. The same seemed to be present to a certain extent on the rock around the door.

WHile it would be tempting to say swords and grak-graks had attacked this door, it was so much more likely that a scoprion had stood here and unleashed its fury on the door, causing much of the rockfall. The fact the door wasn't totally destroyed was a testiment to the solid construction of the door. That, and Haynuus had an odd disconnected idea that the scoprions tended to bore easily when denied obvious prey. There was no scent of scoprion for Ameena to pick up here, but all that meant was the door had been sealed for a while. Easily before the disappearance of the Grey Lord and the coming of Soorec and the soldiers..

Still, after not much moving of the rubble, it became clear that the door switch had been broken. The door was not going ot be moved with finesse. Haynuus could probably brute force the weajkened timbers that were visible. However, it might take longer than than the grak-graks' own task.

Your call Ian - if you want to get to the other side, either chance a single roll to see if Haynuus can rush the job, or chance Haynuus's arm on using take 20 (but perhaps having the grak-graks move on)


Westian standing beside the grak-graks had time to ask a few questions. How did these creatures act outwith Soorec's direct supervision? If Soorec was distracted (and neither of these creatures looked like Farel, despite the agreement previously) what was the default behaviour? Did they undertake the task instructed intelligently, or would they get bored. Worse yet, the soldiers seemed to fear them (for good reason given the bloody mess previously discovered). And Soorec had hinted that his hatred of the soldiers transferred over to his 'childre. Did that mean wearing the black armour was painting a target on oneself?


Teehee, I wouldn't be that cruel. Yet. But something to think about as you move forward!

[Ameena]

Ameena watches Haynuus as he pulls away the rubble from around the door. She keeps a short distance away from him, in case he happens to dislodge anything heavy which might come tumbling her way. At the same time, she keeps one ear swivelled in the direction of the grak-graks, keeping a mental track on their progress through their own heap of rubble.
With not much else to do, she maintains a general awareness of her surroundings and settles down to have a thorough grooming session. Her fur has become somewhat grubby, she still aches in one or two places, and besides, it makes her feel better. She takes her cloak off and lays it on the floor beneath her, then gets on with cleaning herself.

OOC - Picture how rats groom themselves - that's what Ameena's doing right now .

[oh_brother]

The pause gave Westian time to think. Standing next to the undead was unpleasant for anyone, but particularly for him. He had been trained to kill undead on sight, and yet here he was, ignoring the instructions of his order for the sake of expediency. He consoled himself with the thought that he was searching for a member of his order who was surely in trouble, and reminded himself that sometimes unpleasant actions are needed to achieve a greater good.

Sighing, he walked over to Haynuus. He looked up at the half-orc's question. "Plan? Well...um..." Westian had no plan other than to kill the evil priest. Or better yet let someone else kill him. But either way he was pretty sure that there would be no talking his way out of the situation, and someone would be dead at the end of the encounter, at least if his dream was in any way based on reality. "Well the plan is simple. Find Deephold. If we encounter any resistance then brute force may be necessary." Then, realising that Ameena was within ear shot, he clarified. "But maybe a show of strength will be enough. And if we can get him out without anyone noticing, or by negotiating, so much the better."

[oh_brother]

Forgot the main point of my post!

As he approached Haynuus he could see him struggling with the rubble.

"Do you need a hand?" He prepared to shoulder charge the door if the half-orc replied in the affirmative.

[beowuuf]

I guess my update for Haynuus covers the two of you aswell then You guys can keep speaking between yourselves without me having things collapse or attack you. Wait to see what Haynuus does with the the door before the narrative itself shifts forwards. Also, OB, feel free to roll an 'aid another' roll ahead of time incase Haynuus does need assistance.