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

[Ameena]

OOC - When you get +2 to your attack roll...so for example, if you're flanking an enemy, you have CA, or if the enemy is prone (though this means ranged attacks are at a -2 because the target is lying down and so harder to hit). Maybe it's not called CA in v3.5, I dunno. If a Rogue has CA they get to use Sneak Attack (unless the enemy is immune to it, for example if they're undead).

[raixel]

Oh, aid another/denied dex. Dig it.

[ian_scho]

OOC - no reason whatsoever (1d20=3), and will fail whatever happens.

[ian_scho]

Now covered in foliage and tangled in vines the half-orc continues shoving and writhing in an attempt to get out. It was both claustrophobic and horrifying as he could see nothing but shades of green and a pair really angry red eyes. It was then, as if a miracle, there was a parting between the vines and a shaft of light shone in and blinded Haynuus with a vision of a somewhat flustered Deephold. Without thinking he pursed his lips together in the direction of the dwarf, while grappling with the vines. In most cultures this facial action will signify something very different as to what was Haynuus's original intent... For the orcs, or at least the orcish bars that Haynuus drank in, it meant I'm going to need to sup on one of your magic drinks sometime soon.

For the orcs, the whole lips pursing thing was the height of cultural exchange. For Haynuus, it was many a slap in the face in the human bars and he never knew why.

[beowuuf]

And once more we learn more than we wanted to know about the life of orcs


Haynuus was secured tightly, although his companions leapt to his defense. Deephold's mace was no use, and after a few abortive swings the dwarf swapped to his knife, cursing the loss of time. Ameena was already on the case, spotting the vines that were most strained and within easy reach of her small frame. The dragon, as she correctly surpmised, could not attempt to harm her anyway, and was also fully focused on Haynuus. There was a sickening series of snaps, and several vines flapped loose.

Although she was partially distracted, Ameena realised that the dragon-thing was trying to move its other legs. The vines pulled out of the ground as if strained, not yet coming out. However, the ground seemed to be pulled up like a camping tent. The worry from much, much earlier came back. Could the trust this area to be solid ground?


Nice hit Ameena. I went ahead and rolled the d20 on your belalf. You are the only one that partially succeeded, so you spot the potential worry of the ground not being stable. Also, you successful attack on the vines do indeed garner Ian a +2 on his next grapple check.


Petal moved across, looking to the weakness in the dragon that Haynuus himself had revealed. The ribs were tightly poacked, and Petal's powerful fireball soared and struck on the edges of those instead of flying in between. However, the dragon still roared in agony at the strike to its sensative and weakened side. Better yet, the ribs had snapped. It would be simplicity itself for anyone - probably even Haynuus himself were he free - to simply walk in to the interior of the dragon and strike those floating rocks. And Petal's next spell - if she to cast one - would not be deflected on the surface.

The only unfortunate part was that in its agony the dragon squeezed Haynuus all the tighter, as if the half-orc was to blame for its pains.


Cool idea Raixel! I can't let the attack give Ian a bonus to his grapple check like Ameena's attack, but hopefully I've given you something good to play with for your expenditure.

Ian: You've got to beat a grapple roll of 29 I'm afraid, or take 17 hit points of damage. Ameena's aid gives you +2, Deephold blew his rolls If you fail, on your next turn I'm afraid the dragon went from rolling well to rolling amazingly - the darn thing will have an opposed check of 34 against your next actions. Remmeber you can still attack - at a -4 penalty - instead of trying to pull free if you want, circumventing its grapple check but not getting yourself freed either. Also remember you could delay your action until after everyone else has gone to pick up any other potential aid another bonuses.


Deephold was about to start cutting at the vines, but noticed Haynuus's strange facial contortions. Whether he understood the meaning, or simply could not stand to see Haynuus in pain, Deephold took out a flask. With a worried pause, and then a determined face, he invoked Larethian's name to cast a healing flask.


If Haynuus simply tries to break free instead of attack, then Deephold will be able to use his movement to essentially feed Haynuus the falsk, restorign 2d6 hp. If Haynuus is going to make an actual attack instead, then Deephold won't be able to

[beowuuf]

Map:

[raixel]

Petal smiles with satisfaction when the fireball impacts the dragon's side and the horrid beast roars in agony. But off to the side a strangled ""GRRK" from Haynuus made the pixie realize that the dragon was taking out its pain on the half-orc.

"Haynuus! On you should hang!!" she yells, trying to mimic the words of encouragement she has heard her friends say to each other in times of stress. But something about what she said doesnt sound the same. Oh well, she hopes the half-orc would understand, as she has other worries...

She hears the mana's song sligtly softer now, as she has used a small measure of her personal Song to weave the FUL mana into flight. There was no way she would be able to Sing at the runic level EE until her natural power rebuilt itself over time. But hopefully she wouldnt need to, as the dragon has a gaping hole in its side.

Again, she sings to the FUL mana, To her eyes, it rises up to surround her in towering orange flame. She takes some of the flame and holds it with her will between her hands, held parallel out in front of her. As she whispers the song of flight and finishes the incantation by calling "ON FUL IR", the ball of fire streaks out and impacts the dragon deep within its body cavity.

3d6+3=13

[ian_scho]

OOC - Grapple check (avoiding damage), +7 Base +4 Strength +2 Ameena Bonus (1d20+13=22)

Something inside of Haynuus popped as the vines squeezed yet tighter. It wasn't just that it really hurt, but the effect really shook him up mentally.

It was then he noticed the dwarf with a bubbly blue bottle in his hand. He had understood! Oh he could pick up the dwarf and give him a big hug with joy!... Tightly. Aghhhh! Once more then, he tried to break free from the vines and extend his neck as far from the foliage as possible to compensate for the dwarf's short reach. "In me mouth!" he said with his pursed lips once more.

OOC - Grapple check once more (1d20+11=22), 2d6 Heal assuming it passes through his lips (2d6=6)!

[Ameena]

OOC - Ooh, so Haynuus didn't beat the 29 Grapple check - ouch . Looks like he'll be needing that healing potion then .

BIC - As the viny tentacle things continue to grasp Haynuus tightly, Ameena notices that the plant-creature's other "legs" seem to be coming free of the ground. The group really need to leave right now, but there's clearly no way Haynuus can do that at the moment. All she can do is try to help him get free as quickly as possible.
"We have to get away from here!" she calls out desperately as she slashes quickly at the vines again. "The legs are all coming loose!"

OOC - I take it I do currently have CA then, since no mention was made to imply otherwise. So another attack on the vines around Haynuus = 25 (14+9+2). Damage = 13 (1+3+3+4+2). Assuming we can actually get Haynus out of this, I strongly recommend legging it as fast as possible . Were I playing a slightly more callous/violent character, I'd be all up for hacking/blasting this thing to bits and seeing if it's got any interesting loot stashed away inside it. But...

[ian_scho]

OOC - The blasting part is now officially Petal's job! Go - Go Pixie Girl!

[beowuuf]

Lol, I'd use the phrase 'on you should hang' at work if I didn't think people would give me stranger looks than normal! It's amazing how much damage you guys can do when you are trying to run away. Imagine what would happen if you were trying to kill someone. Oh, right, I recall, you would end up almost killing a hit point heavy high up 12th level fighter. I remember now

Haynuus could still not get free, the vines seemed to keep growing in length and twisted around him more and more. Petal threw the fireball in to the opened cavity she and Haynuus had created. There was no real way to aim at anything in particular, it all looked weird, and the creature was bucking as it tried to pull more legs free. Still, the fireball was sizeable enough to simple explode catching most rocky items inside, and for a moment the whole interior was lit up, light shining through every opening, smoke belched from its mouth.

The beast SCREAMED.

It was still alive, the rocky internals apparently hardy to magical fire, but Haynuus and Ameena could smell sulphur and brimstone in the air. The creatute did not reflexivly constrict Haynuus this time, Ameena managed to chop several more of the of the leading vines just as they tightened. Instead, it used all its remaining tendrils, securely wrapped around Haynuus, to try and pull him in to the line of fire and protect the caverous hole opened up. Ameena was not caught in the pull, although Deephold had barely managed to tip the potion in to Haynuus's mouth before he was brushed aside. The dwarf still had the stable feet of his hardy race, and kept his balance.

That is, until the ground disappeared.

The roots of the creature apparently crisscrossed the entire area under itself, weakening the rock - or more likely having bled together with it. As the creature tried to pull itself free, and moved violently, the barely held together rocks underneath it finally gave in to the weight and stress of what was happening above. Petal was the only one outside the radius. Everyone else suddenly faced a yawning pit, filled with twisted green vines. Deephold, having been right beside Haynuus and distracted in his duty, simply dropped like a stone in to the chaos.


Ok, so here's how it goes. The dragon has created a 15 - 20 foot deep pit in the ten squares it occupies, with itself at the bottom. That leaves a ten foot drop to negotiate. Ameena, you were on the very edge of that (technically), so you need to roll a reflexes check to avoid falling forwards, with a +2 bonus for being on the edge.

Ian, the dragon was trying to pull you towards it, so no damage this round, instead you need to beat a 20 (finally it rolled low), with a +2 bonus for Ameena helping again, to get free. If you don't get free, you will be pulled in to the pit, and be hovering over the gaping hole in the dragon. On your turn, freeing yourself will mean you drop inside, so you might want to opposed roll to move sideway instead!

If you currentl grapple check, Haynuus is free! Unfortunately, he then needs to make a reflexes check to avoid dropping inside the pit! If he fails, he drops someone one the creature that isn't a gaping wound, but will be close to the head.

Technically, this is good! The dragon can't follow you if it's collapsed in here, you've got a gaping wound to attack, and it can't breath weapon you as you retreat anymore. If only it wasn't trying to audition for the part of the Sarlaac Pit in the Star Wars reboot films, and using you for extras.

[beowuuf]

Map:

[Ameena]

OOC - Reflexes save = Hmm...12 (2+8+2)...somehow I'm not sure that's enough . On the plus side, Ameena has four grasping feet and plenty of things to grab onto in order to climb back out again...

[raixel]

Petal blinks as the party and the dragon disappear in a giant cloud of dust and a loud rumbling sound. When the dust clears, the dragon is gone. And so was Deephold. The pixie flies up to the corner of where the dragon was and sees a yawning chasm, the dragon on its side, and a stunned dwarf crouched next to it. Fortunately for the party, the dragon feel with its damaged side upward. Petal can see the scorched floating rocks still inside the beast. Well, if a fireball wasnt going to take it out, the pixie had other options.

Petal summons her power to her, the sparkles on her body appearing to crackle like tiny lightning sparks. Then she reaches out to the dragon and mimes a grasping and pulling motion, aiming her wpower directly at one of the floating rocks and willing the air to become forceful and rip the rock right out of the beast's body.

"ON OH KATH ROS" she shouts as the wall of force takes the shape of a ghostly hand travelling toward the dragon's body cavity.

I'm going to leave this one to you to adjucate oh wise DM.

[ian_scho]

OOC - What a cool twist.

It was an unpleasant surprise that awaited them as the dragon tried to extricate itself upon pain of death... The whole floor moved from beneath Haynuus's feet and it was the vines themselves that held him upwards, if only to pull him down further to an early burial. "I guess this wasn't a burial mound at all then!... It's our graaaave." With all of his might he tried to get out of the vines grasping at anything and everything to get himself away from the clutches of this thing. If the sink hole didn't get him then the dragon might.

OOC - Grapple check (avoiding falling), +7 Base +4 Strength +2 Ameena Bonus (1d20+13=29)

It was then he had an idea. He possessed no dagger or spike to hand but Westian's holy symbol was the perfect artefact to hack and chop his way out of an escarpment of vines! Brutally assaulting foliage in what might be a considered a blasphemy to the image of Lorethian (or whatever he was called) Haynuus heaved and swore (and this time it really was blasphemous) his way up away from the grasping vegetation. "Thanks Ameena! Thanks Westian!" It was then he decided that despite freeing himself from the chaos affected dragon being on a flat and stable floor was going to be a better place - he was slipping and sliding down the dirt again! So using the symbol and grabbing fists of dirt he tried to clamber the last part of the way out of the enlarged pit that was forming from beneath them all. The very earth moved from under his feet, and it was only his reflexes (1d20+2=5) that was keeping him upright... Until he accidentally shoved the holy symbol up his nose. The edge of the pit was suddenly reeling away from him!

"Petal! I have a rope in my backpack! Quickly." It was the only thing that he could think of to help the others. The rope was heavier than what she used before, and certainly not as well kept, but it might be enough to stop a sinking dwarf.

[beowuuf]

Glad you like!


Haynuus's freedom was short lived in a way, but he was still free. The fall on to the vegetation of the creature was soft enough to cause just a mild winding. Thankfully Haynuus's nose was a perfect storage place for the cursed moon of Westian's order - the half orc would have hated to explain to the cleric about losing it. Either one of them.


Haynuus is prone, so it will cost him a move action to stand up. So he's basically used up his actions this round. Of course, you are welcome to have him crawl across to the edge of the pit as his move action instead


Speaking of which, Haynuus could see Deephold close by, having managed to quickly get to his feet despite all the chaos of the fall. The dwarf shook his head to realise where he was, and then realised what Haynuus had said. "Yes, Petal, hurry!" The dwarf realised he had dropped his knife and flask in the descend, and didn't bother to look for them. His mace possessed a hook to hang it from his belt, and the dwarf seemed happy to be holding a symbol of his god again. Even if the weapon aspect of it had so far proven inneffective. Deephold was already looking to fight off any whipping tentacles.

Petal did indeed appear at the edge, but her spellcasting to pull something up was not directed at her fallen friends. Looking at the bigger picture as always, she decided that dealing with the threat while it was at a disadvantage was better than trying to help her friends escape only for them to be dragged down and crushed by the greater mass of vines now visible.

She summoned a powerful spell against the first pulsating rock her sylvian sight could make out. Teher was a slight resistance, but not much. The thing flew to her hands, an oversized prize that was easy to catch but almost smacked her in the face. She caught it well enough though, and held it. The dragon below indeed screamed once more, but it did not spot writhing and moving. More disgustingly, the thing in her hand did not stop pulsating. It felt warm and flesh-like ot the touch, despite its rocky appearance. She could almost feel her hands sink in to it. Imagination could try to put many shapes to it, however what was it really? And how could it help her and her companions?


I rolled a pull roll for you Raixel, however it was a pretty easy DC due to the nature of what you were pulling (DC5). Obviously Raixel could try to figure out what it is, throw it away and try again, or simpy do bad things to it. Or even try to speak to the dragon and go 'lookit!' All thigns are possible in an infinite universe


Ameena tumbled unexpectedly, perhaps her concern for her friend putting her usuall murafu instincts on hold for a fraction of a moment too long. Then again, she had seen the floor quiver. Who could expect it to collapse so compeltely a moment later? Ameena appeared to have lost her knife in the tumble. Also, she appeared to have fallen close to the thing's head. For the moment the head was rolling away from them in either anger or agony. That would surely not last long.

Masses of vines - some cut apart and some fresh - whipped around where she had landed, on the top of the leg of the creature. She and her friends had to get out of here. The collapsed wall beside her looked easily climbable, as long as she concentrated. However, what about her friends? What about the vines? What about her knife?

That last one was somethign she could see, it gleamed not far away from her, just about to fall off the edge of the struggling body of the dragon.


Obviously, Ameena is best placed to simple climb up. Therefore, Ameena is also not going to find it a suicidal idea to use her skill defensively and take a -4 penalty to ensure gain a +2 bonus to her AC. Given climbing forces you to lose your AC bonus to dexterity, this isn't a bad idea. Also, you can instead/also take a -5 climb penalty to move faster (1/2 your movement speed instead of a quarter)

For everyone else, here's the relevant page on climbing:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/climb.htm

So basically I need Ameena's actions for this turn (she's slipped down for free ). You guys can all indicate your next round's actions too if you like, though be aware the Dragon gets his turn before those will go off...

[ian_scho]

Haynuus didn't like the idea of attempting to climb out of here under duress - one of them probably wouldn't make it. He scrambled up first to his knees, then to his feet while shaking the dust off himself. He looked up and there were still streams of brown dirt raining upon them so the steep escarpment above him had the appearance of being alive, if not angry. What to do?

He cast a glance back to the dragon, it would return to concentrate on them soon. He removed his rope from his backpack and threw most of it up and over the side of their prison trailing a useless end of the rope at his feet. It would offer no resistance until it was fixed at the other end and so offered no hope. He turned to face the dragon, with his sword drawn.

OOC - The rope thing is a freeish action for this round?

[beowuuf]

Nice try. It'll roll in to next round I'm afraid as a move-equivalent. You'll still have your standard action, but don't go trying to full-round attack. Still have a five foot step if you want it.

[Ameena]

Ameena looks over at where the knife has fallen - she could try to go over and grab it, but what good would it be to do so if the delay then means the plant-creature has time to crush her in its vines, or whatever it's going to do? If it tries to breathe its noxious gas again now it's down in a more confined space, it might be somewhat harder to avoid. She decides that escaping is probably the best thing she can do right now - she sees Haynuus throw one end of a rope up out of the pit and presumes that Petal can grab hold of it and tie it onto something, or...or something. So he and Deephold should hopefully be able to climb out. And then they can all get on with moving quickly away from this thing, as she had originally hoped they might.
It is with these thoughts that she hurls herself at the viny wall of the recently-created pit, using whatever remains of her murafu agility to pull herself further from danger whilst all the while trying to avoid anything that might try to knock or pull her back down into it again.

OOC - So, if I understand this correctly, I can take a -4 penalty to Climb in order to gain +2 to AC, and a futher -5 penalty to Climb in order to leg out of there at a faster rate. So, a -9 penalty overall, yes? Right...so...that reduces my Climb bonus to +7. Okay...so...the roll...bugger. Bugger bugger bugger, lol. Umm...8 (1+7) . Glad I didn't decide to take 10 (assuming doing so would still have had the -9 penalty) .

[raixel]

Great. Now I've got a pulsing rock thing and a bunch of companions screaming for me to help them. Not a good place to be in, let me tell you.

The sorceress stares at the pulsing rock for a second, trying to figure out what it is. But before she can make a detailed analysis, the cries of her friends float up from the pit. She shrugs, and tries to crush the pulsing thing in her hands. Whether or not she can, she flies over to the edge of the pit(still holding the rock if it didnt get crushed and obviously destroyed) and unwinds her rope from her body to lower it over the side of the pit. She also chucks the rock down to Haynuus if it proves too strong for her and yells "This you should crush. It you should destroy!"

"Climb not, until tie it, I can!" she yells down to the party while looking for a suitable branch/vine/rock whatever. As much as she wants to help her friends and might be able to hold Ameena, she has visions of Haynuus or Deephold jerking her out of the air like a ball on a string. Once she finds something, she ties the rope to it and backs off from the pit.

STR to crush rock (1d20=16)
Perception to find something strong enough to tie rope to. (1d20+5=8)
Use rope (1d20+4=8)

Crap. I hope you guys dont fall....

[Ameena]

OOC - Well, Ameena doesn't need a rope to get out - she's got four feet and plenty of handholds. As long as she can get out, hopefully her Dex roll (or whatever it is you need to roll for tying knots in a hurry) will be good enough to do up the rope if Petal fails. Note that Petal didn't need to use her rope - Haynuus chucked up his own, leaving it trailing down into the pit so he can grab the bottom end.

[raixel]

Yeah, but Petal's is Elveny soft.

[beowuuf]

Ameena, take 10 doens't mean you get a ten in total, it means you assume you roll a ten. So your take 10 roll would be 10+7, not 10 - 9. I'll leave it to your conscience whether, knowing this, you would have settled for a 17, of if you would have wanted to roll higher and have failed. Let me know!

Raixel: Complaining people...heavy rock in hand. I don't see these as conflicting calls to your attention, I see them as a problem and a solution


The dragon turned, for the moment ignoring the creatures crawling along it - and the murafu rushing off - to shoot a jet of acidic gas at the pixie still visible with its internal...whatever...clutched in her small hands.


Need a reflexes save from you, DC 16. Luckily, for reasons detailed below, the breath is not back to full strength. So only take 9 damage for failing, 4 for succeeding. Poor Ameena, I think she was the only one to get caught full blast. Stupid players ruining my fun.

Also, if you succeeded in crushing the rock, you couldn't do the whole rope thing n the same round! Not sure how you can balance an oversized internal thingie of a dragon and tie a rope. (Un)luckily for you...

Petal tried to crush the rock, but despite its feel to her, it wouldn't actually break. It caved a little as it pulsated, and there was a tiny spurt of green gas. Even if it had absorbed that fro mthe attack, it spoke of a strange porous quality to the rock. Could it be...she was holding a converted and shrivelled lung? Eew.

Unfortunately, Petal could not see a stable area to tie a rope to, and certaiyl could not do it with this strange thing in her hand. And even more worryingly, as she had pressed it, her hands were reluctant to disengage with it. The thing was as twisted as the rest of the Chaos-tainted lands, and holding it for two long could see her be assimilated, especially if she attempted any magic.


Drop the rock or do something else to it, but it's dangerous and it's going to stop you doing other things!


Meanwhile Haynuus realised for the moment his own thrown rope was being ignored, though thankfully the whipping vines aroudn were ignoring him. "We have to get out!" Deephold yelled, speakign to the half orc.

Ameena was already doing just that, moving to the side away from the dragon's head that had turned, and making to scramble up the bank.


Ok, so Raixel's made Petal's made her move already, I need confirmation from Ameena of what she actually rolled, and I need Haynuus's standard action for Haynuus. Deephold is likely to aid either Haynuus of Ameena, hence no real update for him yet.

[raixel]

GAH! Stupid sticky chaos rock! Away with thee! Next move:
REFLEX (1d20+6=23)

Petal sees the dragon turn its face toward her, and shoots up into the air, the rock-thing still cluched in her hands. She manages to avoid the blast, but the caustic fumes rising from below her sear her eyes and lungs. 4hp

After ineffectually trying to crush the rock, the pixie realizes that it is trying to fuse itself to her skin. Disgusted, she throws it in the water behind her and turns her attention to helping her companions get out of the pit.

[Ameena]

OOC - Hmm...so you mean I can change my very crappy rolled-a-1-on-the-die to a took-10-and-scored-a-much-higher-total-and-so-possibly-succeeded? Um. Well, if I'm allowed to change it to a Take 10.... Oh, and although Ameena was in the way of that original full blast of green gas, she was also the only one to avoid taking any damage from the effects due to her epic Uber Dodge Skill Thingy...Evasion, that's the one . Umm so yeah...anyway...if I can retcon the roll to be a Take 10 (glad I can Take 10 on Climb any time I want so there's no penalty or whatever it is normally stops you from being able to do it , then umm...yeah...that would be good considering the alternative . I realise it still might not be a good enough roll, but it's still a better roll than the other one .

[beowuuf]

Lol, more 'oh, that's the option I would have taken anyway if I'd realised' and less 'ooh, I'll takethe better roll' or else I'll suspect your just cheating and wanting a good roll. But yeah, take 10 is usually only something you can do when not stressed - so you can take 10 on a search and walk normally down a corridor instead of searching actively. Note that this simply became passive insight and perception in 4th edition - the asumption your chaarcter would take 10 in stressless situations. Plus take 10 does exist for other skill checks out of encounters.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus looks back to Deephold, "Oh bugger." He had no idea how to get out, and quickly, and for all of them to succeed. He does some mental math and decides the NPC (No! Not Non Player Character but in Haynuus's mind Noticeably Petite Character) goes last. "Help me up and I'll wave you around on the end of a rope... Once more." He added, remembering that the dwarf was a bit porky / heavy the last time he tried to do this trick. He toyed with the idea of leaving his sword with Deephold before moving off, as the dwarf's maul was ineffective against the vines. He made for another ploy instead.

"Petal! Distract it! Swear at it or something!"

It was then he noticed the brown ball of fur wheeee! it's way up the other side of the pit. Fascinating.

OOC - A quick d20, a climb check maybe? (1d20=8)

[beowuuf]

Lol, the pit walls are only ten feet tall, so technically the seven foot tall 18 strength half-orc you could try and lift/push/act as a ladder/give a leg up to get Deephold up and out. The 8 is pretty bad, so I reckon you'll be doing it pretty slowly and clumsily to start with. Not going to work before the dragon gets a turn, anyway. But I'll let that continued action carry in to the next turn. Can you give me two rolls that I will use for....reasons... Thanks! Ok, I think I have everything I need to update you guys except time. Expect the update at lunchtime or more likely this evening.

[ian_scho]

OOC - Two rolls for reasons unknown but probably quite sharp and painful. (1d20=1, 1d20=4) Ouch!

[Ameena]

OOC - My profile says I can Take 10 on Climb and Swim any time (presumably that's a racial thing rather than class), so in my case it doesn't matter for these particular activities . And lol Ian, ouch those are some not-really-very-encouraging rolls .