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

[raixel]

Petal looks around the odd mound without touching it. Then when Haynuus makes his comment, she stares at him for a few seconds, apparently trying to figure out with her limited command of Common if what she heard him say is indeed what he meant.

"Aeh(Sylvan for 'hmm'),someone dead in this place there is. Heard of these burial mounds as well, I have. Explore it we could, but, sense I do, the twisted area soon we will leave. But, if search we do,useful things we could find. For one, trained I am well, in a bow using. Find one, I would like to. However, the dead to disturb, a good idea it is not."

[beowuuf]

Will wait for Ameena's actions before posting more information for the inquisitive pixie.

Edit: Raixel, if you are around can you throw me a perception roll, and also tell me anything in particular you are looking for? Composition of the surface, potential ways in, anything odd like a headstone or cairn, etc?

[ian_scho]

Immediately he assumed that he had made a mistake. With his orcish brethren they would immediately start to plunder what may well turn out to be an enlarge dung heap that these swan things like to make. "We should keep moving away from the effects of Chaos though... And these swan things could turn nasty if we start digging their heap out."

At the end of the day they were all adventurers, and were always attracted to shiny stuff. Even if a skeletal hand was wrapped tightly around it.

[Ameena]

Ameena pauses, looking over at the low mound. To her eyes, it just looks like...well, like a low mound.
"What do you mean," she asks, "someone died in there? How can you tell? Isn't it just a hill?"

OOC - How's that for shortest post?

[beowuuf]

Ok!

Edit: Right, have work first thing tomorrow (half day), so might leave the update until tomorrow. Then we shall see what we shall see. I like Haynuus's newfound caution though

[ian_scho]

"When some folk die, and if they were considered important, their people heap huge quantities of dirt on top of them." The word Haynuus was grasping for was Tumulus, but a heap of dirt was as succinct a description as was possible. "They would then circle around the mound praying, singing songs or dance or fornicate." The latter activity was common for goblin kings, and to be fair it would be his wife doing most of the fornicating.

Haynuus thought for a moment and helpfully added. "If I die here just strip me down and leave me where I fall. What are your burial wishes Ameena?"

[beowuuf]

Petal circled around the large mount as her companions spoke, a mound easily ten foot around, biased towards the wall of this place but a still structure. At first glance, it appeared to be made of plantlife and vines, twisted coils everywhere. It was hard to spot any dirt. Infact she could swear the gaps between vines and creepers were actual gaps. Perhaps the plants hid smaller structure, or were all that composed this pile.

"I will not strip another comrade down, nor leave another behind where they fall," said Deephold from his imposed quiet in relation to Haynuus's comments. He shook his head with resolve, and would say no more on the subject. Whether he was determined not to fail and have another die, or was accepting failure could happen and simply looking for what small rebellions against fate as he could make was not clear. For such an older dwarf, and apparent campaigner in the past, he seemed shaken. He was quietly holding his mace while taking pains to step in repeated patterns. "We should leave, if we are near the edge of this place" he said looking around to where Petal was and apparently wishing she was be swifter in her investigations.

[Ameena]

Ameena stands upright as Haynuus explains about how other races deal with their dead.
"What does "fornicate" mean?" she asks, at the same time wondering why people would sing or dance, or do other things associated with happiness, around someone who had died and who couldn't see them doing it anyway.
At Haynuus's question as to what she'd want done with her when she dies, the answer is simple, though she is a little confused as she gives it, it beign so obvious to one of her kind.
"When I'm dead, I won't care what's done with my body." she says. "I won't be in it any more, after all - it'll just be a dead thing. When a murafu dies, the other murafu tend to move their body away because it'll start to smell bad after a while - it's carried away somewhere no-one really goes and left to rejoin the Elements. Or sometimes a predator finds it and eats it - whatever happens, they're feeding the world in some way after living in it for...for however long they've lived for. Just like any other creature."
She considers for a moment.
"But I can see that burying someone might be a good idea if there was nowhere you could leave them that people wouldn't go. After all, the way other species seem to live, some people don't seem to know what happens to other people in the same community, so I suppose not everyone would know someone had died. I don't understand why people would dance and sing about it, though..."
At Deephold's comments, Ameena glances over at him. He seems to have been acting slightly...differently, lately. She wonders if there's anything wrong with him. Maybe he's upset about something.

OOC - Sense Motive on Deephold to try and figure him out = 27 (16+11). Just in case he's suddenly gonna snap and do something really weird or whatever .

[beowuuf]

Ameena had seen the dwarf's cut foot earlier. Surely such physical discomfort was not pleasant. Still, they had been under threat for all of the length, and not really able to do anything for him. However, that did not seem to be it. Not fully. It was noticeable that Deephold had not really invoked Larethian's name with any passion. He had been very steadfast in promoting his faith and his High Lord when the group could possibly be troubled. It seemed very strange that he was now silent.

Did the magic turning against him trouble him that much? Did he think it a sign of being abandoned, or of not being worthy?

[raixel]

El perception Percept (1d20+5=11) Petal is looking for any sort of marker such as a headstone, doorways or paths in, and any weird magical resonane (if she can sense it due to the chaos-mana)

[raixel]

Well, the modems fixed. Apparently there was a huge accident nearby that knocked the nearest \ cell phone tower outta whack for a bit.

Petal listens to the converstions of the party around her.

"Know I not, 'fornicate' the mening of." she tell Ameena, while looking to Haynuus for a further explanation. "But if a burial mound this is, important I think it is, to find out inside who is. For one, interesting I think it is, that buried here they are. if buried here, in shev'nal

Spoiler

a broken place

then possible it is, that their soul go onto its next Cycle it cannot. To aid them, we should." As she says this last, she looks at Deephold meaningfully, as if to say "If they are undead, wouldnt you care, as a cleric of a good god and desire to send them on to their rest?"

[beowuuf]

Yeah, a middle perception roll descitpion was what I gave you really! Cool the problem is resolved. The one big problem I had with my ISP service ended up being the BT phone line randomly failing!

Petal had seen nothing that really counted as a headstone. There seemed to be a series of regular 'bumps' in the mound, as if small stones were buried up there going from one side of the mound to the other. However, they were obscured by creepers and grass - or just as likely a trick of the light.

There were no cracks in the vines great enough to count as an entrance, but the more she looked for one, the more she was convinced the mound was not a tight impacted pile of dirt. Whether that was a good or a bad thing was debateable.

Again it might have been a trick of the light, but on looking for an entrance one side - the furthest side - of the mound seemed to be slightly smaller, as if tapering off. It could be that any entrance in was biased that way. After all, weren't they walking the 'wrong' way down river towards the cavern? Still to investigate she would need to explore the area at the end of the mound.

As for feelign the mana of the place, the discornadant song was so much quieter near the end of it. It was hard to tell if - in the case of the mound - that was because the twisted magic was coiled inwardly on it, or if it was almost free of such a tainted state. She would have to touch the mound and open herself up to the song of this place, both things that there was an understandable reluctance to do.

Deephold stirred. "Chaos would not bury a person, of that I am sure," he said resolutely and with a sour snap at something Petal said. "Whatever soul was buried here would have long since departed before Chaos defiled this place." He almost turned away from the pixie and the mound to look backover the river, and look back towards where the swan-creatures could be coming from.

Haynuus's circlet reminded him that Deephold was, perhaps, not quite correct. After all, Haynuus himself had fought a long dead king that pre-dated Chaos's reign. And Haynuus had - although he had never consciously realised it - hear tales of the other kings of old buried in Anaias, said to raise up and protect their own in times of strife even without Chaos's interference.

[Ameena]

Ameena turns her own attention to the mound, looking at it and sniffing in its general direction. She isn't too keen on remaining here long, and is slightly worried about the strangeness that seems to have come over Deephold, though she knows she'll probably never be able to truly understand it.
"Maybe we should just move on..." she suggests, wanting to get somewhere that magic will actually work properly and not stick people's feet to the ground and so on.

OOC - Perception check for the mound (or possibly "mound") to see generally what it look slike and just to make sure it isn't the snoozing mummy of all those baby swan-lizards playing about further downstream ...25 (14+11).

[beowuuf]

Basically Ameena will see roughly what Petal noticed.

Ameena still smelt the combination of fresh and dying vegetation from the mound, even though there were no signs - for now - or anything dying. Oddly, the scent of death also seemed to be, for want of another word, 'meaty'. It did not smell like the the swan-creatures. And eve nthough there was a touch of death to it, it did not smell with the scent she was beginning to associate with undead.


So there you go, not a snoozing mummy in either sense. And yet...

[Ameena]

Ameena peers at the mound, wondering about it.
"Maybe someone used too much magic and got stuck," she says, "and then all those plants grew over them and...ate them, or something."
She slowly continues onward, moving around the mound but not touching it, just in case. She doesn't really want to stay here any longer than necessary, at the very least because getting out of the area might mean that people stop mentioning the Dark One quite so often...

[ian_scho]

To answer Ameena's original question "Oh fornicate is to... I mean that is to say..." Then Petal inquires as well. The truth of the matter is that Haynuus never really pressed any attention to it. Now he was forced to find a way out of explaining something he had no idea about... Ah hah!

"Oh the mound! Of course! It could be a shambling mound! Flee! Run away!" The half-orc didn't know for sure what it was, but he heard a tale at an inn once by a haggard halfling and it was enough to be afraid of meaty vegetation for ever. Maybe he could consort with his circlet to see if he could ascertain the true nature of the thing. (1d20+1=5)

[Ameena]

Ameena looks from Haynuus to the mound and back again.
"Shambling?" she asks. "Doesn't that mean, sort of...walking slowly? But it's not going anywhere. It's not even moving. I'm not sure we should get too close to it, anyway. I mean, with the slightly odd magic of this area, it might turn into something horrible, or...well, I don't know, but still..."

[raixel]

How annoying. Everytime I try and type, Firefox displays the grey screen and the crashed plug-in symbol. But the only plug in i use is NoScript, and this site is set to 'allow all' so NoScript shouldnt be interfering...

Petal had heard of the 'shambling mounds'. Among her people, they were said to be normal plantlife influenced by Queen Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, Mistress of Arctis Tor, The Icy Witch, Queen of the Unseelie Court, and myriad other names the good pixies whispered fearfully amongst themselves by firelight while telling tales in deep winter. Whether or not the tales were true, her people said that Mab, the High Lord that was Titania's opposite, used her fell power to make the 'shambling mounds' rise. Imbued with a modicum of evil sentience, they roamed the deep forests looking to consume all in their path. It is said that the souls of those consumed by the mounds went straight to Arctis Tor, there to serve Mab in her windswept and icy castle, freezing cold slaves for all eternity. But, Petal doesnt really think that the hill the party is looking at is a shambling mound, and says so.

However much Petal wants to examine the hill more fully, the rest of the party is obviously upset by the odd protrusion in the earth. Although her natural curiosity is burning to find out why this odd lump of earth is here, she doesnt want to upset her friends. But, on the other hand, who knows what was inside? Maybe a lost soul looking for rest, or some magic item she could use in her fight against Chaos. Drawn by her curiosity, she draws closer and closer to one of the dark openings in the mound. Once she is close enough, she peers within, trying to see if there is anything underneath the covering grasses.

[ian_scho]

The half-orc moves closer behind Petal, ready to make a big leap and then grab a tiny leg should the vegetation come alive or a pixie-like-squeal emanate from verdure.

[raixel]

Ian, someday I'm going to learn to not read your posts while drinking any sort of liquid, as it usually gets ejected forcefully and a half laughing-half coughing fit ensues

[beowuuf]

Despite the stories of Haynuus, and depsite Ameena's worry, Petal just had to know what was inside. Cautiously she tries to peer inside, swearing she can see a glimpse of something white. Delicatedly using a blade tip to prise open an errant creeper, and checking carefully for the first twicth of anything internal or external, she looked further. Haynuus moved cautiously forwards, in a stance that was unfortuntely arranged to Deephold's eyes.

Petal's eyesight managed to pierce the gloom, and could make out a hollow structure, an unnatural structure inside. There were white pillars, curved in a shallow arch. Beyond these, Petal could make out strange shapes. They seemed to be grey and stone-like, large lumps of misshapen rocks. They floated in the inky dark, though that must surely be a trick of the dim light. This was not a shambling mound, this was not a discarded compost heap, it seemed to be a disguised - or assimilated - structure.

Then, one of the floating rocks in the darkness pulsated.

Meanwhile, Ameena has wandered to the shallower part of the mound that Petal has seen. In another world, Ameena might have thought the mound now resembled a misshapen and leaf-constructed igloo. The central body of the mound had given way to a short intrance tunnel, and there was a very low, flat opening at the base.

Of course, no igloo in any history had ever then lifted its entrance upwards, with the opening showing teeth. Two areas of grass split open, and spinning rocky orbs appeared, box fgocused on Ameena. After all, the thing now looked very much like a face. If one were to really apply imagination to it, the snouted face of a small dragon.

Haynuus was already pullling Petal back even before the pixie could react, nor Deephold cry out in alarm. The central body of the mound - or rather, the central body of the creatue - lifted up on four masses of creepers that seemed intimately tied to the ground. A rocky underbelly was clearly visible, and when the creature bellowed the vines split open to show - in places - the still intact skeleton of it underneath.

The creature was apparently the perfect combination of flora, fauna and mi8neral. It also seemed very angry.


Surpri- ok, ok, no one was surprised about that happened. Anyway, you're facing a plant rock dragon. So Haynuus wins the prize for closest guess with shambling mound, and pretty much all of you can win the 'I told you so' award. The prizes are getting to question my parentage, biology, physiology, psychology, etc. Just as long as you roll initiative and also post a reaction too

I'll try to get a map up tonight as soon as possible, but it's a weird area so it might be later in the evening I'm afraid..

[ian_scho]

You'll be needing an initiative roll. (1d20=5)

[beowuuf]

Map:

[Ameena]

OOC - Ha, I wondered whether it'd turn out ot be alive. How come Deephold's got an Initiative roll of zero? Does he have a negative Agility mod or something? Well, here's mine anyway...12 (9+3).

BIC - As she edges further around the large mound, Ameena continues to peer at it cautiously. She hopes nothing unpleasant will suddenly happen, but just as she's doing so, it does. Well, probably - it opens a pair of eyes and looks at her.
Um.
Firstly, Ameena stares at it in fascination. Then she backs away a bit and stares at it some more. It's pretty...well, big. She wonders whether it's hostile. It certainly doesn't seem particularly happy, anyway.
"Umm...hello...?" she ventures, eyes already darting about, instinctively seeking a potential escape route. Of course, down here, there isn't one - with no idea as to where safety might lie, she'll have some trouble returning to it. Well, there was that nice cave with the Elements, but that's quite a way back now, past many things not least of which are the recently-passed reptile-creatures.
She also darts a glance at the green petal-dancer for some kind of reaction.

OOC - Note that the backing away need not count as mechanical movement, if you know what I mean...that is, she might just edge back slightly but still be on the same square or whatever - if squares are five feet wide, she'll have to edge back pretty far to count it as an actual movement . Though I must add that since this seems rather likely to become an unavoidable fight, Ameena's not really best-placed for it right now, is she? Also she's not fully healed from earlier, since she'd been waiting to get out of the dodgy-magic area before drinking her last potion, since she doesn't want to ask Deephold to try making any more while in this area and so she preferred to wait till an emergency. Well, this might be it . But you never know, it might turn out to be friendly . I notice I currently have the highest Initiative roll (unless Petal rolls higher, and since I'm guessing she has pretty high Dex this is likely), but I'll hold off posting my first combat-round move till I know for sure - everyone still has to put up some kind of reaction before combat properly kicks off though, right? Though just 'cause we've rolled Initiative doesn't necessarily mean we're in combat yet. We might be able to, I dunno, talk the big critter back to sleep or something .

[raixel]

OH MY GOD. Did I really unleash a dragon on us?! Um....Oops? INIT (1d20+4=20)

The whole mound begins moving as Petal feels herself jerked back by the trusty arms of her half-orc companion. The pixie doesnt even have time to feel shame at her actions before the angry beast uncurls itself. For a second, she stares at the creature in awe, fully forgetting that it is easily capable of swallowing her in a gulp. Then, as her eyes travel the length of the creature's odd form, she notices something.

"Stuck to the ground, it appears to be! Away from its head stay, and run!" she shouts while looking over the creature to find out if her initial impression holds true.

Percept (1d20+5=11)

So, I pulled Petal's initial perception from this line: "lifted up on four masses of creepers that seemed intimately tied to the ground.". But honestly I woulda perfered my init roll was my perception roll. Will post more once I get the rest of the party's reactions

[beowuuf]

Eh, the coin flip released the dragon, you were just the conduit And yes, you can indeed presume the creature is stuck where it is. Whether it is or not is another matter, but it is a reasonable presumption at this time!

@Ameena: Yup, Deephold gets an initiative penalty. Poor little indecisive NPC I've added the sub-divisions to form five-foot squares. And yup, you're never forced in to a combat. Though usually I'll force you to do something clver to keep safe. Running or laterally taking out the threat might need some finesse. Especially this time.

And watch out, you are technically in combat, thoguh as you say not in combat really, until its the dragon's turn. Then you might be in combat

[ian_scho]

Despite the half-orc's now screaming survival instincts he decides to take a jolly good look at the thing. (1d20+2=9) With Petal now free of his arms it appears she is standing there with a gaping open mouth as well. "Lets... Move." He suggests.

OOC - Which way is "out"? Don't fancy going back to our reptilian swan things again. If it's south on the map, Haynuus will move 5' diagonal down left. If it's north then it will be behind Deephold teetering on the edge of the bank.
TBH I wreckon I'll just have to wait for the dragon to take a chunk out of Ameena's ass before Haynuus goes charging in.

[beowuuf]

North is out, swans are south!

[raixel]

Petal nods to Haynuus, while pointing to the north and moving off in that direction, hoping to stay out of the reach of the awakened plant monster.

"Ameena, Deephold! Run!" she yells while pointing in front of her.

[Ameena]

OOC - Ameena's ass? But the Murafu don't keep pets, and there haven't been any donkeys in the dungeon at all so far . Anyway, I hadn't really pictured Ameena as being quite so close to the dragon, more kind of edging northward whilst keeping as far from it as possible. Then again, I'd been picturing it on the other side of the party, with the space between them and the wall, lol.

BIC - Not really wanting to anger the creature further, since it already seems somewhat unhappy about being woken up, Ameena is already thoughts ahead of Petal's voiced suggestion when it is called out, and acts on it shortly after. She backs away from the head as best she is able, keeping herself as low as she can and generally mimicking her body langauge of earlier, when approaching the two reptile-creatures and trying to tell them she didn't mean any harm. Only this time she does it while moving backwards. She also rapidly takes in as much information as she can from the creature's movements, body language, and so on, in case anything might come in useful with regard to communication. She doesn't dare dart away quickly, since from the eye position at least (not to mention the ratehr sharp-looking teeth), this creature is clearly predatorial in its shape, and therefore is likely to snap at anything which looks prey-like. Not that she knows for sure what it is this creature eats, but it does so far seem as though she's discovered what it is that stops the reptile-creatures from overpopulating the area.
Without taking her eyes off the creature, she also calls over to the rest of the group, as softly as she can so as not to provoke a hostile reaction from the...the plant-predator.
"Move slowly." she says. "Slowly and quietly. Slowly and quietly. Predators tend to like things that run..."
She worriedly thinks of Petal, of the pixie's darting movements in flight, and hopes that they won't cause any trouble.

OOC - So, mechanically, Ameena takes a one-square-step thingy diagonally backwards (northwards), putting her closer to the river. She also makes a Sense Motive roll to learn anything she can about the vine-dragon-monster-thingy and scores...13 (2+11). Bleh. Well, I suppose she's a bit distracted, what with finding herself so close to what appear to be predatory jaws, and trying not to back too far to fall into the water, and trying to tell the party stuff as well, and plus she's never seen one of these critters before so would be unfamiliar with it and stuff. Oh well. I hope that if we're gonna have a boss fight, it doesn't happen just yet while the almost-half-dead Rogue is right in front of the mob and the guys with the big swords are furthest away and there's no chance of flanking it in the first round without risking AoOs, lol.