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

[Ameena]

Ameena looks around at the ledge they're on.
"If Haynuus has moved on," she says, speaking slowly (by murafu standards) once again, "we'd better move to keep up. If you can't climb up there then we'd better stay down here and try to follow him from below. And umm...we'd best keep our eyes on these creatures while we do. And stay away from the water."

[beowuuf]

The undead creature snarled at Westian, yet only took one determined step forward, before the invisible force of Westian's faith pushed the creature back again. It sidestepped away from the lake, as if skirting a set boundary. However, its face was in pain, and foam-flecked water streamed from its mouth, which it spat at the cleric as it had hate-filled hooting noises.


Wow, terrible, terrible roll for its opposed roll. Basically, Westian can drive it (using an single step) whichever direction he wants. I'll leave you to intelligently decide if Westian sidesteps then forces it back against the lake, or makes a single step forward to push it off left while Westian and Ameena then backtrack right towards the grak-graks' last known position.


Ameena was wise to speak of moving away from the water, but annoyingly not all creatures were bound to the shoreline. The giant wasp, hovering looking for an opening, perhaps spotted the two companions splitting up, and Westian's dustracted attention. The wasp zigged and zagged but started to come inshore close to the cascade. Its target was obviously the murafu.


Ameena, did you really mean to not roll perception then? If Ameena was delaying to find out Westian's actions, then she'll get caught. Otherwise, she might have a chance to try and catch some indication of Haynuus before she gets unwelcome attention.


Meanwhile, still with his head down and a bulldog spirit was the plucky half-orc. He decided not to risk the edge of the ledge, and so steered himself as close to the middle as he could. More spores filled the air, but once more around him not in his face. And he foudn he could breathe ok, so the spores from before must have missed any vital oriface too! (Sorry, couldn't confirm the fort save at work, but the DC was indeed 14. So well avoided!)

Once more a few screamers attempted a suicidal plunge. One fell but then tumbled awkwardly along the base of the wall. It was at least unhurt, but its flailing roots and spore clouds did not get close to the charging figure. Worryingly, another suicidal screamer exploded into green and white goo behind Haynuus's back. Perhaps it was something to note down for farmign them - make sure his land was flat, with no high surfaces.(Another 1 for drop-screamer!)

The large root whipped around as if detecting the charging half-orc. It managed to hit him in the chest, and the recognising it had contact with its pray, started to contract itself in a tight coil.


Wow, a terrible set of rolls, including another 1, but at least the tendril scored a hit. Its grapple check will be 18 that you need to beat. Now, if I'm reading it right, you are only travelling 30 feet, and had a readied action to hack at the tendril. If so, feel free to roll that too. If that was just flavour, and you beat the grapple check, then you can assume you actually get to the choke point! The crack will be available to you next round, without further impedement!

Well, no impedement you know of...

[Ameena]

OOC - I didn't even think of rolling Perception, but I can do if you want...18 (8+10).

[beowuuf]

Yeah, Ameena can hear faint noise of conflict and movement coming from above, but won't be able to get a bearing on which direction.

[ian_scho]

OOC - opposed roll, grapple (1d20+10=25)
readied attack on the purple tendril (1d20+10=26, 2d4+6=12)

Despite Haynuus's weaknesses caused by the screamers spores he was well aware of the threat from these tendrils, and that they were more dangerous than the screamers. Once more he side stepped a suicidal screamer then saw a thick purple tentacle lower to his direction. He didn't know what attracted them, his heat, smell or his grunting noises but whatever - he gave a good chop at the tendril as he rushed by, clipping some of it's tip off but he never knew if he really did any damage to it. Bits of it fell to the ground with a hollow thud.

He continued to the end of the cavern as best he could. The image of a futilely flailing paladin falling through the air circling in his mind.

[beowuuf]

The tendril reared back, and Haynuus's inertia ensured it's slimy reduced tip could not hope to wrap around him, He'd done it! He'd survived grasping tendrils and suicidal screamers and even wasps and a strange waters invisible then not invisible thing, without fallign in the water himself!

There was a chorus of orcish voices in his head, cheering him on. And then, Haynuus realised, the voices were not - for once - in his head. There were external. Infact, they were coming from the crack infront of him. They sounded a little angry (but then all orcish sounded angry) and they sounded a little odd. It only took a moment for Haynuus to realise that the voices were, infact, Trolin voices.


Yup, Trolins are in or coming out of the crack as you get near it. Will Haynuus rush up, yell out, hide, run back, dance the macarena, pretend to be really small, or any other number of things? He probably has a round's worth of action judging by how loud the sound is. Theer are at least three Trolins judging by the volume of shouting - maybe more.

[Ameena]

Ameena tries to keep an eye on as many things as she can, whilst also trying to keep close to Westian and move along the ledge.
"I can hear sounds from above, but I can't make out exactly which direction they're coming from." she says, somewhat apologetically. "But since I don't see why Haynuus should start heading back the way we came, maybe we should go onward. And anyway, the grak-graks are back there too, on this level, so I think it would be a good idea to head away from them."
She then notices that the insect seems to be heading in her direction and fights back an instinctive urge to panic and bolt - where would she go?
"Insectcomingback!" she cautions in a tense voice, speaking quickly again in her fear.
Though she has no idea what good it will do, she draws out her knife and holds it ready, in case the creature should attempt to attack her. But given the size of it, all she can probably hope to do is take off the tip of its sting right before the rest of it impales her.

OOC - Ameena's still keeping pretty close to Westian's right-hand side (assuming he's facing north...or at least, "up" on the map), so close to him but still between him and the water. I'm presuming the undead thingy is still to the north and so sort of in the way of the route Ameena wants herself and Westian to take in order to find Haynuus. I presume the wasp is still off to the east somewhere, over the water.
Anyway, readied (and slightly panicky) attack on the wasp if it happens it come into range is...Attack roll = 20 (12+8), damage = 2.

[oh_brother]

“Yes, we need to find Haynuus. We have lost enough people already, we cannot afford to lose anyone else.” Realising that they need move on Westian was glad to have a destination. Keeping close to Ameena he moved forward, keeping a stern eye on the undead as he moved.

Once they had passed it, he keep looking over his shoulder, keeping an eye on both the bloated monstrosity and the nearby wasp.

Walking past undead, though not right beside, and pushing him back away from us. Readied attack on wasp (if this is possible while shooing the undead) was 11 + 6 = 17, damage 6 + 2 = 8

[beowuuf]

You aren't keeping up the turning on the undead, it's more like it's intimidated by your very presence. Hmm, a 2 and an 8 for damage? And Ameena thought her attack wouldn't make a difference! Neeed to check the hit points of the wasp when I get home, but 10 rings a bell...

[beowuuf]

The undead backed away reluctantly, but apparently it had no choice in the presence of Westian's secret rage and purity. The creature stood at the lip of the lake, disturbing a small rock.

Meanwhile, the wasp hesitated when Ameena and Westian moved together, but apparently decided to make for the small murafu anyway. It was, however, the last mistake it would make. Ameena indeed managed to hack at the stinger of the creature, a creature that had to get much closer that it might lke to the group to take on the small prey.

That gave Westian ambple opportunity to spear the creature through the side with his blade, and ichor flowed freely. The wasp struggled for a moment on the end of Westian's blade, severed stinger dangerously near to Ameena.

However, the creature's wound was mortal, and it then slide from Westian's weapon with a single twitch.


Yup, checked, and it had exactly 10hp. Whew! So Westian finally bested the thing, with an assist from Ameena. Which is good, because it rolled a hit against Ameena. And you know how bad her fort saves always are - bye bye dexterity if that had happened!

[Ameena]

OOC - Lol, at least she has lots of Dex to lose...I think I'd rather that than her Con, given her epic hitpoint total compared to everyone else .

BIC - Ameena manages to prevent herself from bolting in panic as the insect comes in for an attack. With the combined efforts of herself and Westian, the creature finally falls down motionless. She looks at it with some amount of distaste - somehow, she wouldn't want to eat that.
Moving quickly away from the dead creature, Ameena gives a slight shudder at what might have happened if its sting had touched her. Still, it didn't and she is vastly relieved at that, likewise at the fact that Westian is also unharmed.
She keeps some attention on the undead creature behind her as she flicks insect-slime off her knife and looks at it.
"Do you think I should keep this out?" she asks Westian. "I think it might be a good idea for us to move quickly, in which case it would be better for me to put it away so I can drop down and run on all my feet. But what if that creature attacks us?"

OOC - So that we can just move on quickly, you can assume that depending on what Westian says, Ameena will either keep her knife out and walk upright as she is now (in which case the two of them will have to move fairly slowly in order for her to keep up with Westy), or put it away and trot along on all-fours (in which case Westy can pretty much move as fast as he wants - she'll be able to keep up with him easily). It depends what threat he thinks the undead thingy will be, I suppose. I recommend speed, though.

[beowuuf]

Have you seen Falkor's hit points? I woul;dn't complain :p And lol, remember that Westian is in full platemail. I say that as I think I forget at times and have moved him a little further in a round. I don't ever think when it mattered though! Westian and Ameena will travel at the same speed if Ameena is standing! Twenty feet per round.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus was pretty ecstatic as he past the uselessly flailing tendril, and even thought for the briefest of moments to stop and check if they were as deliciously edible as screamers were as well. But no. He was sure that his buddies needed him and old Aurec would be laughing his paladinic arse off about leaping into the water. Oh ho, ho, ho. He really must catch up with his group as soon as possible.

It was then he heard the deep voices. He slowed to a trot and could discern three different sources and they sounded like his old foe. He slapped himself hard on the forehead. Oh for the love of Mork...

He elected to sheathe his falchion and press himself hard against the wall. He was no rogue or gnome and had little chance of hiding in the mould on the walls. He readied a sentence or two, in a vain attempt to confuse them before having to resort to hitting them. Where have you been? There are humans in the level below. They have cunning plans and everything!

OOC - Hiding check, Bluff check, whatever! (1d20-1=17, 1d20-2=7)

[beowuuf]

The Trolins, for the moment, did not spot Haynuus, nor had they apparently heard him. There were indeed three brutish creatures, hefting a variety of nasty spiky weaponry about their muscled persons.

"Heard noises! More of those..." The Trolin then makes a gargling noise, either a peculiar Trolin word or an imitation.

"Bah. Shut noise-hole-soon-shut, purple tongues will take those things."

A third Trolin voice ventured. "Why king listen to weak-cloak in first place? He said we would be safe. Yet we get SWIFT DEATH stalk us here!"

"Not stalk us! We stalk them! We will kill DEATH and wear the claws around our necks! Then king go back to weak-cloak and tell him to forget his deal. Tell him we deal with black-suit. Black-suit might be snark-grag, but he powerful and honest snark-grag!"

The three Trolins had various rags and items tied about their person. They were also very stronly scented. Each word seemed to be accompanied by a waving of their weapons.

Luckily, the creatures seemed more concerned with obvious threats, and were looking outwards left and right of the ledge, not behind them.

'Who are you???' came an irritating fourth voice. And two sets of 'snicks' showed that not one but two sets of new Trolins had come behind the original three, and had spotted Haynuus. There was a very complicated moment when the two Trolins with crossbows, and the three Trolins infront, all turned to look at Haynuus. Sadly, the fact he had hid meant it was much harder to bluff. Of course, being a half-orc who had appeared from nowjhere, and apparently had just run the difficult screamer gauntlet, perhaps bought some credibility. For the moment, all the loathesom Trolins seemed unable to comprehend what they were seeing. Haynuus had but a moment though, to get his baser feelings in check, to deal wit hthese creatures.

Or, of course, perhaps his baser instincts and experiences were best expressed while the group were frozen.

"Is it SWIFT DEATH?" hissed one of the Trolins. Both the crossbow weilders had their crossbows tremble for a moment.


Lol, the opposed rolls were pretty low, but you are also in a very bad position. So I figure you should get to at the very least have the Trolins positions all on the outisde of the tunnel (so you could charge away with minimal AoO). And even the low bluff was barely matched by their sense motive, so feel free to spin some tales instead. Interesting times, but by no means do they have to turn violent. You know, unless Haynuus still has some unresolved Trolin tensions he needs to work out.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus was out numbered and out gunned. At least for once he wasn't the one who smelt the worst of the group... Not that anyone would mind that fact in THIS group.

"Well, obviously I've been fleeing from the humans." He points back down to the cavern with the purple tentacles and screamers. "I think they're invading!" he shouted with his arms in the air, and horror on his horrible face.

He takes a step forward, arms open and looking all warm and welcoming "...Now how do we get down to the cavern floor to get them?"

[beowuuf]

"Hah, snark-grag runs from blackskulls," says one Trolin, saying it as if quietly to the Trolin next to him, while making sure it is said very loudly.

"Snark-grag ran the purple tongues!" says one of the crossbow wielders actually behind Haynuus's back. "Would black-suit betray the king?" continued the crossbow wielder to the largest of the Trolins.

"Black-suit snark-grag not control all the blackskull pink-skins, no matter what he say. SWIFT DEATH attack us, and weak-cloak lies to us. Soldiers have been seen moving around. Black-suit seen walking higher levels. I think we under attack!"

The largest Trolin moves a spiked, toothed and studded battle club from one shoulder to the other, and then stood toe to toe with Haynuus. The half-orc was actually still impressive compared to the Trolin, although the Trolin did not seem to notice as he looked Haynuus up and down.

"Way down through crack," said the Trolin, nodding his head towards the black fissure. "You show us exactly where pink-skin blackskulls are if we take you down?"


As I said, they rolled pretty low in their sense motive, so despite Haynuus's poor roll, he got away with it So, you might have an honour guard if you want it! Well, honour guard/captors, I'm sure you're no stranger to being in this position, you've done it before!

[oh_brother]

"I think even as it is you will still be faster than me, this armour is weighing me down. Best to keep your weapon out, unless you want to scout ahead. "

The pair kept moving together across the open ground, as fast as they could. Westian occasionally glanced behind to make sure the undead was not tempted to follow.

They made slow but steady progress towards the end of the cavern. "Don't worry, I am sure Haynuus is capable of taking care of himself - if we can find a way up we should be able to track him down. He is not the easiest person to miss: big, loud....actually he tends to have quite a large effect on any number of the senses."

[beowuuf]

The group tried to make good time, but Westian was correct - his armour was a hinderance. Still, it might have belonged to a wicked man, its twin might have just caused the death of Aurek, and it might be slowing him down now, but it was also certain that its solid construction had probably saved him from the creatures this place had thrown at the cleric. Well, this armour and his own unrealised skills with a shield and sword. Who would have suspected?

Still, as the pair moved away, the undead creature slowly started to lope forward. It still seemed a little skittish, but its hooting voice become greater in challenge. Worse yet, was it imagination that there were faint hoots in return coming from far above somewhere?

A better sound was a harsh language, getting louder. It sounded like orcish - infact, it sounded like Haynuus! They had chosen the correct path!

And then, of course, the other voices started to be audible on the strange internal currents of the air in this place. Easily, the imagination could place that horrendous language as being Trolin.


Up on the ledge, both Haynuus and Trolins could suddenly hear the strange hooting. It was hard to tell the direction, except for one important aspect - it seemed to be coming from somewhere above, on the even higher ledge.


So that's that then. You guys are close to the crack as would be visible on this bottom level of the cavern. It isn't continuous, but it would be the same fault splitting along the common wall. The undead is probably going to charge and rush the group where they are. The undead might even have company, eventually.

Anyway, map below! And as promised, you guys at leats have the chance to leave this place. You know, if you wanted to...that waterfall looks so pretty... and Trolins are so horrid... The choice, as always, is up to you lot

[ian_scho]

"What is that noise?" Haynuus asked the group, and pointed up to it's general area. "It sounds like it is coming near!" He now closed on the biggest trolin and conspiratorially said "They attack us? You want me to go down through the crack to check for blackskull pink-skins while you face that horrible hooting". The half-orc was actually writhing in fear now.

OOC - Bluff check (1d20-2=7)

He had many issues, this half-orc, and one of them was his dire lack of social skills. He had always assumed that the art of bluffing was like violence. If it's not working then you aren't using enough of it! All of his previous monologue was one weak truth after another half-lie. The effect on intelligent souls was one as if he was clowning around. The trolins, however, probably would just want to swipe him.

[oh_brother]

Hearing Haynuus's voice Westian picked up the pace. He resisted the urge to shout out, bearing in mind that from the sounds of things Haynuus was not alone.

Westian peered up as far as he could. Knowing the murafu probably made a better scout then him he questioned her in hushed tones. "Can you see anything? Any sign of Haynuus?"

[Ameena]

Ameena looks up at Westian.
"I'll see. Could you wait here a moment?" she asks politely. "It will help my listening, I think, if you're not umm...clanking nearby."
This said, she moves forward so she's a short way ahead of Westian and then pauses, looking and sniffing the air, and listening intently, focusing mainly on the area above, where she knows the upper ledge to be.

OOC - Perception check = fook yeah . 30 (20+10). Does that actually make two consecutive crit-successes at Perception? Wooo, I mustbe due a real smeg-up any time soon .

[beowuuf]

You already had them with some other rolls, I think - just not when it matters Ameena can definitely smell Haynuus and a group (more than three, say) of Trolins. Very real Trolins. Also, she can probably hear all the words thet are saying to each other perfectly. You know, in orcish. Unless Ian says Haynuus has been talking common this whole time - I'll leave it to his honesty to say which. As has been shown before, Trolins speak both.

[ian_scho]

OOC - It'd be orcish, in an attempt to 'buddy up' with the Trolins

[beowuuf]

The Trolins shifted as Haynuus kept talking. All eyes narrowed, and suddenly weapons tightened.

"He knows what noises are!" said one of the two crossbow wielders behind Haynuus. "You can see it in his face and cowering!"

The lead Trolin smashed his club down on the ground, making a dent in the ground without apparently damaging the club. "Bah, no pink-skins underneath! Snark-grag lies to us to keep running and make us run. Running from these ...things!"

The Trolins all take a step back, and around.

"No, you stay out here, fish-food-dangling-catch," said the lead Trolin, "we wait in safety to see what things are. You not be good fish-food-dangling-catch, we shoot you with flying-death anyway. Be good fish-food-dangling-catch, and we might safe you when we ambush creatures!"

The Trolins stepped back, still with some weapons trained on Haynuus. Apparently, they decided he would make good bait.


Yeah, sorry, the Trolins rolled a 20 and realised something was up. Usually I'd let your previous roll ride, but it had been close enough I wanted to test them again with your further bluff. Still, at least you've taken the pressure off the guys down below. Of course, what to do? Nasties all round, how best to proceed?


Meanwhile, down below Ameena could make out the definite continued argument. Even with the harshness of the launguage, it was perhaps easy to tell it was getting angrier, then slightly fainter. And of course, then the hooting started being much more audible. Still, Ameena had pin-pointed Haynuus's position, and knew that horizontally speaking at least (if not vertically) the half-orc was at least close, and still alive.

The undead creature trailing Westian and Ameena realised support was making a move, and chose that moment to strike. With a confident, lopping run it made directly for Westian. The thing raised a powerful watery fist, and despite all of Westian's armour and defensive manouvering, the thing managed to smash the fist painfully into Westian's barely healed wounds from the leech. The force of the blow buckled more armour, and temporarily took the wind from Westian due to the pain.


11 damage I'm afraid! Still, I'll let Ameena's high perception ride, so you shouldn't get ambushed by new creatures, and you might here any movements of anythign from the crack if that happens too.


"Something happening down too! More noise!" said the shorter and possibly more eminine crossbow wielders to the lead Trolin. The lead Trolin took a look back down into the crack the Trolins had retreated to, and then back to Haynuus. The lead Trolin did not look happy, nor certain of anything.


Sorry for the late update, enjoy your weekend!

[Ameena]

Ameena listens, identifying clearly the harsh voices of troll-creatures, those strange, blue beings who she remembers like to use things like sticks and clubs in order to hit people. And she hears the voice of Haynuus, though he's currently speaking the strange langauge of the troll-creatures and she can't understand him. She hopes he's alright, but it's difficult to tell since the language is so harsh in itself that they could be exchanging threats or pleasantries and she'd never know.
She's about to turn round in order to walk back over to Westian in order to tell him what she can hear, when a sound from behind makes her turn round all the quicker and she sees the undead thing rush forward and land a blow on her friend's already dented armour.
Startled into action, Ameena moves forward, as quickly as she can go on her hind legs, and attempts to move around the creature in order to strike at it from behind.

OOC - I probably can't get far enough around it to flank - I imagine Ameena would have only moved one square away from Westian in order to listen in on the conversation above them, but with her limited movement in her upright position and the fact that the undead thingy presumably struck Westian from the opposite side to where Ameena is, I don't expect she can get all the way round there in one go. So she'll get as close as she can...
Attack roll = 12 (4+8), Damage = 3.

[beowuuf]

Do you really want to move around the creature? I just ask, because unless you shift (5 foot step only), any movement aroudn a creature as part of a full move action, even if it's only a square, will provoke an attack of opportunity. It is an udead thing, so a flanking bonus gives you +2 alone. Not saying that's not worth it, just wantign to clarify the mechanics for you so you don't get squished when you didn't mean to!

[Ameena]

OOC - Well, Ameena and Westian were moving north (on the map), and had moved past the creature so I figured it was behind them (south). Then Ameena moved a bit further north to get a few steps away from Westian to properly listen out for Haynuus, at whicih point the creature attacked - I assumed it had just run forward and leapt at Westian, therefore was to the south of him still, in which case Ameena would have to walk all the way around Westian in order to flank it, something I don't think she'd be able to do due to her limited speed whilst upright, coupled with the fact she was already at least a square away from Westian and that she'd have to move so far (and at a distance so as to avoid an AoO) to get around to the other side. So basically she'll move as far as she can to get the nearest to flanking as possible in one move (if that means only walking straight up to the creature and hitting it without going around it a bit first, then fine), and then try and hit it. I did say that she attempts to move around it, after all .
I had actually forgotten about the no-backstab thing, but it doesn't matter as, like I said, she's probably not gonna be flanking it anyway .

[beowuuf]

Gotcha!


Haynuus was in an uncomfortable position, being reminded exactly how low Trolins really were. Using him as bait to flush out more of those hooting strange creatures. Still, it seemed the Trolins attempting to hide in the crack were just as interested in the surroundings as they were with Haynuus.

Only one of the two crossbow wielders - the shorter female - had her crossbow on Haynuus. The other crossbow wielder had started urgently talking to his leader, distracting both of them.

Once more, the symbol of SAR flashed in Haynuus's mind. Many Trolins - especially once rumoured to be aligned to Chaos and evil wizards - seemed to liek adornign themselves with the symbol. Twisted and violent Trolins, loaded up for combat, with SAR emblazoned on them seemed to be the perfect antithesis to what Haynuus wanted to be. A 'normal' half-orc, peacefully living with his screamers and his farm.

However, if that was true - why did he have the SAR rune in his mind?


Down on the ground, Ameena was distracted from observing the surroundings by a friend in need. Still, before the distraction she had been able to notice that the cracks in the wall provided quite a number of hand holds. Perhaps still not anything Westian could negotiate, but certainly something that could help her get at least close to the ledge above. Close to Haynuus, if he needed help. Two friends, both in danger, in opposite directions - that seemed to be almost designed to be the ultimate torture to a murafu. And once more, horrible undead were being thrown at the group. Life not allowed to end correctly, bodies not allowed to return to nature.

Something, somewhere in the back of Ameena's head prickled, as if someone were watching the murafu.


Westian, for no good reason just before the undead creature had attacked, had a flash of the dwarf Darcow Deephold. Westian had been tested martially in this place, forced to use not only words as he was accustomed to, but the weapons of his enemies aswell. In the current climate, it was suddenl'y hard to recall Deephold, let alone imagien Deephold here.

The dwarf was also so serious, and placated, and slow, and distracted. It was hard to imagine him surrounded by the evil here. Almost painful to imagine a very studious brother subjected to the broken and twisted elf that Westian had caught flashes of. The group were currently set adrift from the dungeon, from the tether of Soorec's influence, but also from a firm grasp on where Deephold was. Could they re-orient and anchor themselves? And could they do so quickly enough to ensure Deephold was not lost to this place, as Aurek - a strong and well trained fighter - had just been?


There we go, mostly just a flavour things for you guys since it's been alot of business in the updates recently

Oh, and for no good reason, everyone make me a will save. *whistles*

[Ameena]

OOC - There are female trolls? Ooh, how do you tell?
Anyway, Will Save = 16 (13+3).

[beowuuf]

Carefully!