BEO's FUN FUN INTRO

[raixel]

Alright, i'll be kind and say you dumped your pack beforehand. Considering you just got your ass kicked by a *turtle*, its the least I can do. K, so to rehash. The pond is about 8 feet wide by 8 feet across. I said it was about 6 feet deep, but thats a mess up and its way closer to 10-12. Basiaclly a deep hole of some kind like a sinkhole filled iwth water. The "cave" was caused by a huge tree falling over many ears ago and then becoming covered with mud and plants, about 5 feet from the water's edge. It was about 4 feet high and 4 feet wide, 6 feet deep where it goes into the cavity of the downed tree's trunk. The mouth is about 6 feet from the waters edge.

Sssil decides taht fighting a amphibious creature in it's own element isn't a very good idea. As the turtle dives deeper into the murk, he takes the opportunity to swim to the surface and get out of the water. As the tracker's head breaks the surface of the water he gratefully takes a deep breath of fresh air and quickly strikes out towards the bank where Hisssa waits. The little viper appears overjoyed to see his friend, and immediately climbs up to his customary perch draped on Sssil's shoulders as soon as the lizar's torso is out of the water. Sssil gets a flash of irritation as Hisssa sticks his head in the armor puch and immediately retracts it, sneezing due to the water lodged in the pouch that hasn't drained out yet. An image of Sssil hanging his armor next to a fire appears in the lizar's mind, making it very plain that Hisssa will not get in a damp armor pouch. As soon as Sssil's feet are completely supporting him on land, a shooting pain screams up his leg as his injured foot is forced to support his full weight. But, there isn't much he can do for it now, as he wants to see if there are any eggs he can claim in theturtle's nest before the great beast surfaces.

Limping over to where the nest is, Sssil realizes in dismay that his failed jump has partially collapsed the mouth of the structure, burying one side of the entrance in a few feet of dirt. The entrance has gone from being about four and a half feet wide to beingh just a couple feet wide, although Sssil reasons he could wiggle his way in if he tried. Or he could most likely dig the dirt back out using just his hands, as it is soft and not packed at all due to being recently churned up from his fall. The turtle is still nowhere to be seen, and probably remains at the bottom of the pond.

K, so i'm leaving it there so you can decide what to do. Basically all you did was take a move action to move to the entrance, since we're half in sorta combat . You could make a spot to see if you can see whats in there. If you want to mess with the cave you could squeeze in thru the hole, but if you do I want a dex (unless you have escape artist). Or you could dig it out, in which case it would take roughtly 5 rounds to do so, faster with a good STR roll. Also, can I have a listen?

[beowuuf]

Ssssil giveas a hiss and mental image in apology to Hissssa, imagining Hissssa beside a fire and able to hunt inhis cage. He adds the image of a tiny turtle, running comically on its little legs before tripping up and rocking on its back with a sad look on its face next to the giasnt seeming snake.

still, Ssssil had risked much - his wounded foot was throbbing painfully - and he did not wish to run away empty handed. If he could not get the carapaice of the turtle, perhaps he could luck some of the eggs.

Moving with the speed of adreniline from the battle - and more than a little terror at the power of the creature he might have to face again - Ssssil scrambled in the dirt like a mad lizard, while looking aroudn for any signs of danger.


Wow, first rolls after the break are a doozie! Spot 21, listen 24, and even a natural 20 on strength! Woohoo! Sssil will try to scramble in the hole, but obviously if he sees or hears anything, he might switch plans in a big hurry

Edit: Link to rolls: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3475026/

[raixel]

Now why couldn't you have rolled that when you jumped? Heh. STR is for digging, Dex for scrambling. But either way, it was a nat 20, so you aced it and are going to get a nice shiny prize! I totally forgot to have you roll a know nature too, so did it for you, if you dont mind, so we wouldnt have to stop again for one simple fact (the eggskin one). It was 15. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3475223/

Sssil peers in the hole and due to the angle of the sun, can see clearly inside. Against the back "wall" of the tree's trunk he sees a grass and mud nest, with many turtle tracks making the mud-and-rotten-bark floor into a mushy mess. Inside the nest, partially covered by the mud, Sssil can see the top of at least 3 large greenish-blue ovoid eggs. Each one looks huge The size of an American football or a rugby ball. Judging from the top curve he can see, Sssil estimates they are at least 20 inches across and a foot long. Each egg could feed a lizar for a day, and Sssil also knows that the dried leathery egg-skin can be carefully opened up and pressed to be used by mages as paper for a spell-scroll for spells relating to water and reptiles, and Sssil could sell them for a decent amount if he can manage to dry and prepare them properly.

The tracker looks and listens carefully for the turtle, but the only thing he can hear is the crashing of the trapped erlosss, now much more subdued as the creature grows severely exhausted from its struggles. Deciding digging through the debris blocking the entrance would be easier than trying to shove his way through, Sssil cups his hands like a scoop and begins shoveling handfuls of dirt, bark, and insects out of the way. The stuff is loose, and the lizar makes short work of the mound, clearing it in just a few seconds. Due to your natural 20, it took a partial round. As he moves the few remaining handfuls of dirt, his hand scrapes across an odd hard pattern of something large partially buried in the mud. He brushes the muck off of it and realizes he was looking at the jumbled torso bones and skull of a lizar buried in the murk right outside of the hollow's entrance, probably a previous nest-robber who met the turtle's ire. The failed jump and subsequent churning of the turtle's feet most likely dug the bones up and jumbled them, as except for the skull, they aren't in their natural order. The remains are old enough that only a few scraps of rotten cloth cling to the bones, and the limb bones are missing, probably drug off by scavengers during the turtle's absence from the nest.

An odd silver glitter catches Sssil's eye near the skull, but whatever it is, it is mostly buried in muck. Digging in that area reveals a thick silver chain with a pendant that is diamond-shaped cabochon small green gem set in a simple silver backing.

Realizing he must get to the eggs if he wants them before the turtle surfaces, Sssil moves to the back of the hollow, the short ceiling forcing him to bend over, and begins uncovering the eggs. There are 4 eggs, and Sssil uncovers the first one and sets it aside to begin working on the next when he hears a splashing coming from the pond, probably caused by the turtle surfacing.

Heh, heh, heh. You really didnt think she was going to sit at the bottom of the pond while you ran off with her offspring, did you? I didn't have you do anything with the skeleton beyond uncover the chain cuz I didn't want to direct Sssil's actions, so if you want to pick it up or dig around there, i'll retcon it in. Athough doing anything more than just picking up the chain *may* cause the turtle to surface while you are out there, and not uncovering the eggs, depending on what you do and how long it takes.

[beowuuf]

Lol, tell me about it!


Sssssil was monentarily hypnotised by the pendant, but then realised the body was a stark warning of messign around. He had a hunter's pride...or at least some small shreds of it...and focused on gettign an egg. He made sure he put one weapon to hand, and reached for the second egg...


Ok, so Ssssil will make his work slower by trying to do it one handed now. He has some vague idea of, if the turtle surfaces, or either tgo for the first egg - or the one in his hand - and throw it to the other side of the pond if the turtle appears. That way, he mgiht be able to scoop up the remaining ones and rush off. Depending, of course, if he can grab them ok.

Not a great plan, especially since this would leave a weapon and his backpack there!

[raixel]

Sorry, I was assuming you grabbed your pack already on the way over and are wearing it. But if you wanna leave it by the water, be my guest . So did you grab the pendant?

Sssil looks out to the pond and sees the hump of the turtle's shell rising up out of the center of the water. He readies his weapon as he reaches for the next egg, trying to uncover the large ovoid using just one hand. He manages to dig it free of the nest just as he hears the *squish, splash* *squish, splash* of the turtle's legs stumping through the mud as it walks towards its home.

It doesn't seem to realize it has an intruder in its nest. The tracker knows turtles have very poor eyesight. Perhaps it can't see him in the shadows at the back of the hollow. In any case, Sssil has a few seconds to act before the creature blocks the entrance to the downed tree. Sssil contemplates throwing the egg. Throwing it at the turtle might surprise the creature, but would most likely crush the egg and anger the creature. If the egg hits water, it would be ok, but Sssil isnt sure what would happen if it hits the bank of the pond. The mud was soft, sure, but what if it hits a rock?

Alright, it doesn't know you're there (stupid turtle and its nat 1 spot check.) and you have a full round action before it spots you. If you want to chuck the egg, I need a ranged touch and tell me what your aiming at (ie, turtle, water, mud, Hisssa, your pack, the erloss ect ). Otherwise I thought I'd give you a chance to react based on this new info.

The hollow is 2 squares deep, with the nest at the back square, and the pond is 2 squares across and 2 wide. There is 1 square of dry-ish (its still mud, but not the swampy mess the edge of the pond is) land between the pond and hollow entrance, that currently is considered obstructed (10ft movement to move through) due to the mess of mud, rocks, dirt, tree bits, ect you shoveled into it from the collapse. The turtle is currently still in the pond square closest to the hollow(upper left corner).

Ug. I'm gunna go check imageshack today. Let me know if you didnt get that. It confused me and ive got the map right in front of me.

[beowuuf]

Lol, if you're gunna let Ssssil grab his pack at the same time as grabbing Hissssa, who am I to refuse! I thought it woulnd't be an option. See, you aren't quite an evil DM...yet! Ssssil will ignore the pendant and go for the eggs. For now, at least...


Ssssil froze, sending a quiet thought to his friend hopefully buried deep in his armour again. An image of Hissssa leaping out and going towards the eloss wti hthe turtle rearing up and attacking. Still, Ssssil noticed the creature was moving in a way to suggest its eyesight was keeping Ssssil hidden. Carefully, very carefully, Ssssil wieighed the egg in his hand, and tried to visualise the throw - the egg perfectly arcing over the turtle to hit the pond's water noisily but safely. After all, it was an egg Ssssil had the chance to get later.

Ssssil's visualisation was interrupted by an image of his father looking disapprovingly at his Kakkiss scion, head shaking sadly. Ssssil dug his foot firmly in to the mud, makin ready to run, and also looked to the other discarded egg, And then, Ssssil through the egg perfectly through the place where his father's face would have been...


I get the idea well enough for now. You can always send images to me and I can put them on my own webspace if needed (though that adds a bit of a delay, of course).

And weeel, Ssssil got a 24! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3477072/
Aiming for the pond, and hoping the distraction and nosie will let him move quickly. If the turtle actualy realises its an egg and completely loses focus, even better! Andf if you are being nice and Ssssssil had a bit of time, then I assume his other weapon is attacked to his belt just now, right?

[raixel]

Ok. I threw something together in 5 seconds using paint. Which sucks now, btw. Don't laugh. (Sssil is the lil red dot, Its supposed to be an "s" but stupid paint made me think I was drawing it way bigger)http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84 ... fight.png/ Hey, none of the text came out! Tho I think you get the idea...I hope. Yes, I do graphic design for a living too !

[beowuuf]

Good thing Sssssil threw so well! And I think you forget how bad my CSBwin asisted drawings were at first. Red triangles for characters!

[raixel]

Hey, I liked your maps! Well, ok the CSBwin ones were kinda...funny. But they looked better than mine! To be honest, I coulda done way better, but Paint *sucks*. It seems like the win 7 version has gotten even lamer than it used to be! Yeah you got your axe, And Hisssa jumped on you as soon as you were clear of the water and rode around on you shoulders, so he kinda "grabbed" himself, leaving you free to grab your pack. Also, Hissa is around Sssil's neck. He doesnt like the damp armor pouch.

In Sssil's mind, the image of his father winks out as the egg sails perfectly through the figure's head and gracefully over the turtle's back to land with a *splash* in the dead center of the pond. The turtle stops in her plodding walk and arcs her neck around the corner of her shell to stare at the offending object. Whether the stupid creature realizes the lizar is in there throwing eggs is unknown, but Sssil swears he can see the astonishment in the beast's tiny black eyes at the fact that something in the cave appears to have gained the power of flight. Slowly, the ponderous creature turns around and heads towards the gently bobbing egg in the pond. Once there she starts nosing the egg, apparently confused as to why it suddenly jumped into the pond. Sssil gets a flash of amusement from his snake. Hisssa apparently finds the whole situation very funny, and Sssil's "comment" to the viper is returned by an image of the turtle, and then Westian, and a feeling of "sameness".

Distraction worked! Based on my terrible map, the egg landed in the lower right square of pond, and the turtle si heading that way.
K, so it takes the turtle a round to stare at the egg and then swim out to it (remember, she doesnt know youre there), and Sssil can act at the same time, so you gained some more time(at least 1 1/2 rounds worth(you only threw the egg so you still have a 1/2 round action left).If you are going to move out of the cave while the turtle is in the pond, I'll need a move silent. And a hide just for good measure. Depending on how long your action is, the turtle could be doing some different things when you finish, so I need to know what Sssil does before I move her anymore.

I know we arent actually doing a round by round combat here, but I use rounds as a good marker for generally how long someone is doing something in timed situations like this.

[beowuuf]

Agreed regarding the round as a measure of time. There's just somethign immediate and scary about knowing something could go wrong after only six more seconds, so don't make any assumption or long speeches! And oops, I forgot Hissssa was complaining about the pouch! Poor Westian, Hissssa loves ragging on the half elf! I imagine some form of karmic justice will occur where Hissssa is terrified of Artaxes


Ssssil has little focus to appreciate the humour of his little friend. As relief floods through him, he thanks whatever diety looks after foolish hunters for allowing him to not be trapped in the trunk. Of course, did that hunting diety like the hunter to leave empty handed?

With terrible slowness Ssssil slid his weapon to his belt, and tried to carefully dig out another egg. He knew he had one still outside on the ground. If he could grab a second now, perhaps he could make a quick run for it. Something twitched in the back of Ssssil's mind, and he thought again of the shining silver pendant. Was it some Lizar hunter that someone wondered the fate of? A hunter of a noble family? Ssssil felt he should perhaps receover the pendant. The fact it was quite shiny did mean it came to mind quite quickly. Gently, as if the turtle could hear a thought, Ssssil actively projected the thought of the pendant to his little friend, and imagined Hisssssa curling around it and pulling it back to Sssssil's leg.The mental image Ssssil then had, of himself juggling two eggs while hoping on one foot with Hissssa wrapped around his leg was not one he had meant to project.


Does the nat 20 carry to carrying on uncovering another egg? What other rolls do you want here for Ssssil aside from the hide/move silently.

So to recap: Ask Hissssa to go for the pendant, but ignore it otherwise. Sssssil digs out an egg, goes to the mouth of the hollow, picks up the second egg, and tries to move off

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3479170/
Hide 9, Move Silently 22. So he manages to sneak perfectly, but it doens't matter because the turtle look back around?

[raixel]

The eggs arent really buried enough that you need an extra roll to uncover them, but how are you carrying the eggs? If you are carrying them in each arm/hand they are pretty big, smooth, and heavy, as well as awkwardly shaped (they arent rounded on one end like a chicken egg, but taper to points at both ends like an American football), so they would be prone to squirting out of your arms at a moments notice. To do anything other than straight move/run would cause a balance check, so go ahead and make one now. You could also put them in your pack, but unless you take the time to wrap them, they could break even though they are tough and leathery. And if you do put them in your pack, theyd pretty much fill it.

Sssil slowly digs out an egg while keeping an eye on the turtle in the pond. The creature appears to be nuzzling the egg, as if she recognizes it, but doesn't know what caused it to appear out here. But then again turtles arent exactly known for their deductive reasoning. While he painstakingly digs out the egg, Sssil asks Hisssa to go grab the pendant, and gets a mental grumbling in return as the snake uncoils himself from around the lizar's neck and slithers to the floor. The grumbling changes to amusement at the inadvertant projected thought, and the snake speeds up a bit, as if he wants to see the image for himself in reality.

Once there he slithers through the necklace's clasped chain to loop it around his midsection beforeo hauling it back. However, after moving a few feet back towards the tracker, he has somehow become completely entangled in the necklace's chain. Sssil is concentrating on getting the second egg unburied as quietly but quickly as possible and has just completed the task and scooped up both eggs when a feeling of struggling enters his mind. He looks up to see a knot of snake and silver chain on the floor of the hollow a few feet in front of him, with Hisssa weaving his body around trying to free himself from the entangling chain but only managing to make it worse. When the snake realizes his friend is watching, a profound feeling of embarrassment washes through Sssil and Hisssa hides his head under one of his coils.

Sssil is also keeping an eye on the turtle, so the paragraph below is happening at the same time as the paragraph above

Meanwhile, the turtle apparently has come to the conclusion that the egg is in fact hers, and is bumping the egg with her snout towards the eastern bank of the pond the lower right corner of map . However, once she gets it to the edge of the murky water, the egg promptly sinks into the thick mud. The stupid creature stops and stares at the egg for a bit before jamming her nose in the mud under the bottom of the egg and using her beaked snout to try and flip the egg higher on the bank. The egg moves a bit then sinks again. The turtle stops again, peering at it with her beady eyes, before apparently coming to a decision and begins moving away from the egg, heading towards the foliage lining the edge of the clearing to the east.

Ok, so I totally didnt plan for Hisssa to get tangled in the chain! Nor did I know that was gonna happen when I asked you roll a balance to carry the egg. I had Hisssa roll a STR check to see how long it took him to drag it back. It wasnt even a pass/fail roll, cuz he could always move it even if he got below the (very low) DC. Just a check to see how long it took him to pull it. And I bet you can guess what he got!

Spoiler

Hissa pull (1d20-2=-1)

I LOL'd considering the big discussion earlier about skills and bad rolls. So hes now badly entangled and can only move 5ft/round. He might be able to free himself, or you could help him. [/b]

[beowuuf]

Sssssil was thinking one under each arm, silly boy. Hadn't appreciated the eggs were so shiny. However, I don't think Sssssil would have thought it through anyway!

Ssssil almost felt sorry for the turtle - until he put his weight on his bad leg - as she sadly moved around her other egg. Still, she would not be kind to Sssssil if she came back now, and it was always the way of the hunters: the better creature had to kill and use the lesser creature. It seemed to be a sad way of the world. You could only promise to use well or appreciate what you managed to gain.

Ssssil hadn't appreciated how big or slippery the eggs were going to be until he tried to move carefully with the two of them. He feared his mental image of himself, that Hissssa had appreciated to much, would come to pass. And then Sssssil forgot about himself as he saw his small firend's plight. He scrambled forwards and the eggs to help Hisssssa untangle himself. He tried to sing as quietly as possible a Lizar lulliby that his mother had sung when Sssssil had been younger and squirmier and refused to settle to sleep. Sssssil needed his friend to go limp to best help. Ssssil felt emnbarrassed himself that he'd cared abotu a trinket. He could perhaps tease the snake about it later, when it was not potentially dangerous!


Well the balance went ok - a 19, which I hope carries later! But a 3 for escape artist on a -3 penalty for it gives a 0 for helping free Hissssa! Will Hissssa let Sssssil pick him up and place him in his armour now? Poor Hissssa, as funny as a nat 1 is
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3480862/

[raixel]

Don't sweat the escape artist, Im not gonna punish you for taking the initiave. Its more a matter of undoing the clasp and pulling it free than anything. But if you had gotten high it wouldnt take as long! I helped my brother move all day, its 2 am now and Im exhausted, so sorry this doesnt really advance the story much, but I got a great idea for the clasp and wanted to ype it out before I crash.

Sssil rushes over to Hisssa and sets the eggs down next to the snake-and-chain-knot. The little viper is thoroughly embarrased at his plight, although he pulls his head out from hidinglong enough to give Sssil a pleading look. The lizar quickly looks the mess over and realizes that if he undoes the clasp, he can slide the now straight chain out from Hissa's coils. He traces his index claw along the chain, working it gently from side to side until he sees where it joins together. The clasp is of a make Sssil has never seen before. It appears to be an inch long beautiful intricately carved silver dragon head with a pearl in its jaws, with one end of the chain making up the dragons neck, and the other end bored through the pearl. The tracker brings his head down close to get a better look and sees a clever tiny hinge running along the base of the dragon's lower jaw. After fiddling with the clasp for a bit, Sssil finds another small joint at the base of the dragon's horns. He puts his thumb claw under the horns and lifts up, and the jaws snap open, releasing the pearl. From that point, it is the work of a few seconds to pull the chain free of Hisssa's coils.

The now free viper gratefully slithers up Sssil's leg and dives into the armor pouch, not seeming to care that the armor is still damp. Sssil quickly drops the chain in his pack anf picks up the eggs before moves tp the fromt of the hollow, staying half bent over and close to the wall in case the turtle is nearby. He sees movement in the grass by the edge of the treeline and notices that the turtle appears to be snipping the long grasses with its beak, similar to the grasses that were mixed with the mud in the nest.

K, the balance was sufficent to carry both eggs and use a one-handed weapon with a -2 hit penalty. Basically your shoving em both under one arm or in your pants or something . But you still cant do anything requiring both hands/arms like climb or use a bow . If you put one egg down, itheres no penalty with a 1 handed weapon. To put one down carefully is a swift action, If you want to pu6t the second one down in the same round its a move equivelent. You can just drop one/both as a free action, but then you need to roll d%. If you want to try and figure out what the tirtle is doing, give me a spot and a know nature, but its not needed if you dont care. The turtle is 2 sqares over from the lower right square of the pond. Also, can you roll a listen?

[beowuuf]

Lol, not a problem regarding the non-story movement, the clasp idea is indeed cool. I'll roll a spot/knowledge nature to figure out the turtle's action before doing anything else!

Spot 16, knowldege (nature) 20 and listen 20 - not that bad actually!
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3481991/

[raixel]

Sssil peers carefully around the edge of the hollow and watches the turtle's actions closely. From where he is standing he can see the egg on the bank, although oddly it appears that the mud next to the egg has been kicked up by the turtle, creating a small depression. As the lizar watches, the turtle plods back over to the egg and appears to be dropping the grass into the nearby depression. Sssil realizes it is building another nest, probably because it can't bring the egg back to the main nest. He remembers watching other turtles in the swamp and has never seen or heard og this behavior, although it does make sense considering the turtles are territorial and will guard their nesting area against all creatures. He also knows that when a turtle is building a nest, unless it is directly approached or its eggs or territory threatened, it will ignore pretty much anything.

Of course, that doesnt really help Sssil, considering he had one of the creature's eggs under each arm.

The surrounding swamp seems quieter, and Sssil reflects on this before realizing that it seems quieter because the thrashing of the nearby trapped erlosss, which was always in the background recently, has stilled completely. Perhaps the creature finally succumbed to exhaustion, although Sssil knows there was no way the catch-slime could have swallowed it up that fast.

As I said before, catch slime doesnt make you sink like quicksand. Its more just mud that is so thick ang gooey you cant pull yourself out. Eventually a deep enough pit of it will swallow you, but it takes days or a heavy rain to do it. Your MS from earlier still is active, btw

[beowuuf]

Ssssil was surprised that the turtle would split its attention between two nests, and also give up so easily rolling the egg back up. Again, he felt a little twinge of conscious regarding the lonely egg, but it was quickly forgotten when he realised it meant he had two delicious eggs to share. Now that Hissssa was safe in his armour pouch, Ssssil concentrated on moving slowly outward.

The lack of other noise gave him some chills....not only was his cover for noisy movement silent, but the fact it was silent at all worried him. Ssssil thought about biasing directly away fro mthe creature, however the jaws of the turtle still flashed in his mind every time he put his weight on his bad leg. Looking nervously backwards, Ssssil moved in the direction of the eloss to see exactly why it had stopped moving, looking underfoot to ensure he didn't enter the same catch slime.


Call it paranoia, go check on the critter in the process of escaping! Does catch slime have any practical benefits to scoop out any? Like a makeshift weapon potential or healing properties?[/b]

[raixel]

Sssil slowly and carefully moves toward the trapped erlosss. The turtle appears to be engrossed in her new project and doesn't notice the lizar sneaking away with her eggs. Hisssa broadcasts a sense of relief as the two make it to the tree-line and step back into te swamp, where they are screened from the view of the short sighted turtle by the thick foliage. The tracks from the erlosss her's passage is still clear, and leads Sssil right to the catch slime pit. As he approaches, the ground becomes soggy, and the lizar can feel the mud pulling on his boots with each step. Fortunately he is well-versed in the dangers of the swamp and knows how to keep from becoming trapped.

The erlosss is still trapped, sunk in the mud halfway up its body. It is still weakly moving, but Sssil can see its sides heaving and the foam flecking its open mouth as it gasps for air. When it sees the lizar, it tries to struggle, but is so worn out it does nothing more than toss its head briefly.

Although Sssil enjoys the scent of the swamp, the bacteria rich catch slime is odiferous even to his nose. He reflects on the uselessness of the stuff. It appears to exist as a cruel joke by some High Lord, serving no purpose but to entangle and kill the unwary. The lizar remembers seeing a reeking mud-encrusted tracker coming back to Makan after an encounter with the stuff, and within a week, the tracker was taken with sickness as every single little wound on his body that came into contact with the slime became infected due to the amount of organisms that call the stuff home. He has heard of magic-users having a use for the muck but he can't remember what they use it for.

The trapped erlosss' eyes roll in its head in terror as it scents the lizar nearby. It gathers up the last of its energy and throws itself forward with a loud squelch, only to sink slightly deeper into the slime. Hissssa sends Sssil a mental image of the erloss apparently floating over a fire, then turning black, then a happy Sssil with an erlosss shaped bump inside his stomach, followed by a question. An image of the caravan appears, and a grahhhsk.

[beowuuf]

Ssssil feels relief flood through his body as he is out of the situation, and nods happily to his small friend, then sends a mental image if him nodding happily when he realises Hissssa is still in the pouch. Sssssil doens't completely lose his caution though, looking to the erlossss. Seeign that it had just exhausted itself, Ssssil stands upright, looking at it from a few angles.

Hissssa's mental images cause Ssssil confusion for a moment, and then he thinks he begins to understand. He thinks about a grahhhsk with some ropes around it, the other ends pulling on the weakened erlosssss, pulling it free after some comical tugs directly on to a fire where the hungry staff of the caravan are awaiting food.

Of course, Sssssil is the closest awaiting his first cut of the food, and he makes sure he imagines Hisssa on his shoulder, receiving praise for the idea.


Is that going to be viable? Coming back with some help to grab the trapped animal?

[raixel]

I don't know if you remember, but you have the bone whistle. Kass told you how to use it if you find food you need help bringing back.

Hissa seems happy at the thought of helping the caravan find food. Although the type of swamp viper Hisssa was bred out of is solitary in the wild, the lizar have bred the snakes over millenia to bond with lizar and aid them. Sssil reflects that the outriders would probably be more than happy to have their grahhssk help with the erlosss, as it could provide food for the entire caravan for a meal or two. Besides, the creature was so exhausted, there was no way it was going to pull itself out. And perhaps a quick death from a blade was better than slowly succumbing to starvation or exposure.

The tracker reflects that he even knows a swamp lizar recipe for meat coated in clay. By coating the meat in clay, it seals the juices in, and once the clay dries in the fire, the hide and hair of the animal peel right off with the clay shell. He thinks back on a fire shared with a couple of swamp-lizar hunters and the diving-bird they roasted in coals this way. All it took was plucking the feathers and rolling the resulting carcass in the clay from a riverbank. The meat came out moist and flaky, although the tracker declined eating the guts and offal, which surprised the swamp lizar as they apparently found them a delecacy. The catch slime isnt exactly clay, but perhaps he wouldnt even have to try and get the mud off it if he could somehoow alter the recipe to work for the erlosss.

Erlosss hides are valuable and sought aster by grahhssk harness and saddlemakers, as their skin is quite thick and stiff. But it might be next to impossible to clean the hide of catch slime to get it into a position where it could be tanned and sold.

The lizar's musings are interrupted by a flash of interest from Hisssa. The snake has his head out of the pouch and is watching some gently moving foliage at the base of a nearby tree very intently. An image of a ssaaros A black and grey striped ground squirrel similar to a chipmunk appears in the tracker's mind. The viper extrends his neck out a ways, his forked tongue flicking intently as he takes in the scent of the rodent. The lizar gets the mental image of Hisssa with a small lump in him, followed by the image of the rodent-cage, and a question.

[beowuuf]

Owl blast, right? Will post later

[beowuuf]

Sssssil nods to his friend regarding the squirrel, gently placing the eggs on the ground so he can retrieve a few items. Most importantly is the whistle to signal others. He recalls that the sound of anowl was supposed to send help for a kill. He also looks to rope and some smaller items, wondering if he can perhaps build a small noose to catch the ssaaros in...he does not usually have much success with throwing daggers at such small prey, if he was being honest with himself. Especially not if he wished to take it alive for Hissssa's amusement later.


So blow the whistle for help, hope nothing around is attracted other than help, and meanwhile amuse himself with some impromptu noose creating and trying to tempt the poor squirrel to get itself caught?

[raixel]

K, I'm going to need a use rope for the noose bit, and a reflex if you manage to get the ssaaros into the noose. Remember, you have Wild Empathy to influence the ssaaros too. I'm not going to drop you to level 3 until I start the others, and this little hunting adventure ends and you are back with the caravan (unless for some reason, you dont end up back with the caravan, hmmm?)

Sssil pulls out the bird-beak shaped bone whistle he was given by Kass and sounds the day owl call twice. At the sharp piercing scream, the ssaaros in the bushes freezes, recognizing the call of one of its natural predators. The erlosss rolls its eyes and snorts, but appears far too exhausted to do much more than look alarmed. The tracker waits nervously, hand on his weapon as the whistle shatters the peaceful calm of the swamp. Silence reigns for a few minutes as the small animals living nearby quiet themselves and hide, not wishing to be on the supposed owl's lunch menu. Within a few minutes, Sssil hears another two owl calls in the distance, coming from the direction of where Sssil thinks the outriders would be.

At least he hopes it is the outriders, and that he didn't just advertise himself as a ready and willing mate to the local day-owl!

Although day-owls don't have any natural predators, Sssil decides to stay alert just to be on the safe side, as it is always possible a starving carnivore would be willing to risk the owl's sharp claws and beak to try and steal a kill, or even make a meal of the bird itself while it is distracted by prey. Hisssa projects a feeling of alertness and waves his head back and forth, letting Sssil know that the viper will watch the surrounding area for any danger or the grahhssk riders as well.

As the lizar waits near to the trapped erlosss for his companions to arrive, he pulls out some of his rope and attempts to fashion a noose to catch the ssaaros for Hisssa's rodent-cage. He ties the trap-knot the way he remembers being taught, and sets it down on a firmer patch of the ground nearby. Hopefully there would be a way to get the ssaaros to be interested in the center of the noose. He thinks back to everything he knows about ssaaros, racking his brain for some way to entice the creature. Any lizar that has spent any time in the swamps knows that ssaaros are fairly common in swampy areas, as their light weight allows them to run across catch slime that would entagnle a larger creature, providing an easy way to escape being food. They live on the ground, feeding on shoots and fallen berries, leaves and nuts, and living in burrows that are usually dug into the side of hillocks or beneath tree trunks. Snakes and small wildcats are their main predators, and they have been known to flee from even a wooden decoy of a snake. They are fond of the tough ssatthhikk berries that are found outside of Makan, and Sssil remembers seeing a trained ssaaros doing tricks, like climbing a rope, jumping through hoops, and rolling over for the berries in the marketplace. Unfortunately, the berries are very rare and valuable, so many ssaaros are killed each year to keep them from eating the berries.

I rolled a know nature for you to avoid having to stop, just to give you a chance to roll but not advance the story any. I hope you dont mind. There are many things you can do here. I just gave you ideas for a couple I'm excited to see what you come up with!

[beowuuf]

Lol, it's 9 for the use rope and 9 for the reflexes check
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3487805/


Whilst rumaging for his rope, Sssssil recalled he still had a tanglefoot bag, and also had a small amount of the ssatthhik berries. Ssssil didn't hesitate to consider using a portion of the precious berries to make his friend happy, after all Hissssa had faced the deer earlier and helped with the turtle now. His little friend always stuck by him, including getting dangerously - to Ssssil's mind - trapped in the pendant.

Sssssil looked for a suitable place to perhaps dangle the noose just off the ground, trying to tie a few berries in the centre. At best, the creature might put itself throug hthe noose trying to grab and untangle the berries. Sssssil cut a small piece of rope to attache to the top of the tanglefoot bag. If the squirrel looked to be outsmarting the basic snare, hopefully that would still position it and delay it enough for Ssssil to yank the tanglefoot bag open violently, and catch the squrrel in the explosion of its sticky contents.


Does that sound like it might be a plan? Find a very low branch or knot to hand the noose at, with a berry or two in the centre, and the taglefoot bag on the ground as a secondary trap?

[raixel]

Sorry it took me so long to type this. All my free net-time today went into finishing OB and Ian's char's backstory, which I wanted to do last night, but I fell asleep in my computer chair and woke up with "qwerty" embedded in my forehead. . Your idea sounds great to me. Lets see if the dice agree. Due to your creative use of the tanglefoot bag, you get a +2 bonus to your rolls (or a -2 for the ssaaros spot, however it works out is the same mod)

On a side note I noticed I type Hisssa and Sssil with 3 "s"es, and you type it with 4. Odd that I just noticed that. I suppose it doesnt really matter cuz I always assumed it was an onomonopia for a kinda hissing "s" sound anyway. Like Hissssa I always figured was pronounced more like *explosion of air sort of "h" sound", then a ssssss like an air leak, than ah, but humans and others who cant do a natural hiss would say "hiss "ssa". I guess I think too much bout this shit

Hisssa seems happy Sssil is willing to help fill the rodent-cage so the snake can dine at his leisure later without worrying about the ssaaros escaping, although he doesn't seem to understand why the lizar views the berries as important, especially when compared to a fat, juicy ssaaros.

The snake gets mildly embarrassed again when Sssil thinks of the chain-incident, and the tracker picks up a sense of agreement at the danger, and a mental image of the dragon-clasp coming to life and winding the chain around Hisssa, the way a constrictor kills it's prey, before opening up its jaws and swallowing him like a snake eating a rodent! The viper seems to be trying to convince Sssil that he was, in fact, in mortal danger from the crafty wiles of the evil necklace, if the brave Sssil hadn't freed him.

Sssil crouches down and can see the ssaaros foraging underneath a redfern bush at the base of a nearby broadleaf tree, a dark spot in a crook of the tree's roots marking the entrance to the rodent's burrow. Moving very slowly and cautiously he reaches out and ties the noose to a nearby tarbush-branch at a perfect level to catch the rodent, a few berries dangling tantalizingly from some split starnds of rope. He has designed the ssnare so any tugs on those split strands would cause the noose to tighten, hopefully with the ssaaros inside. Then, he sits very still and watches the creature forage under its redfern bush. It obviously feels safe and protected there, as the panting and occasioanl thrashing of the trapped erlosss cause it to do nothing more than freeze for a second before continuing to nibble on young shoots of the bush. Sssil sits still as a stone, enjoying the feeling of becoming one with the swamp, and eventually rwarded by the ssaaros perking up, nose twitching as it scents the ssatthhik berries nearby.

It creeps slowly towards the snare, nose twitching, tense and alert for potential predators. Sssil gets the impression that the slightest movement at this point would cause it to go darting back to the safety of its bush and burrow. But the lure of the rare berries proves too much to resist, and the ssaaros reaches the noose and stands up to grab a berry, hopefully causing the noose to . The noose works as planned, and as the rodent tugs the berry attached to the catch, the noose snaps shut. Unfortunately, with speed honed from surviving predators in the swamp, the ssaaros darts free of the rope at the last second. However, Sssil sees his chance and yanks the mouth of the tanglefoot bag open, trapping the rodent in goo.

At that exact moment, Sssil hears the sound of foliage being moved in the distance, and the sounds of something, or more than one somethings coming closer from the same direction Sssil originally came from, as if they were following his trail. An image of Thessan and Lisssak (Since its been a while, Thessan is the older scarred light green and yellow warrior who has known Hassta for many cycles and his mate is the mage Kalisssa, and Lisssak is the grey and white male barely older than a kakkiss who is on his first trip out and seems eager to prove himself), riding grahhssk pops into Sssil's head, as well as a feeling of nearness. Within a few minutes, Sssil peers through the trees and sees Thessan's scarred form on the back of one of the male grahhssk and behind him rides Lisssak, coming out of the trees on the far side of the turtles pond's clearing. The outriders seem wary and are peering around, as Thessan probably spotted the same turtle-tracks Sssil did. However, with no sign of the tracker, at a gesture from Thessan, they both dismount and tie their grahhssks and edge into the clearing warily.

They move toward the pond, hands on their weapons, and Sssil sees Thessan point to Sssils own tracks in the area, just before the turtle surfaces from the depths of the pond and swims towards the two outriders!

Cool, so youve got a gooey ssaaros, and a turtle going for Thessan. I' dont know if I ever said ho wbig the clearingvalley area was, and since I lost the notes for it, lets juts say its 60 feet wide, generally, So it takes a double move or 2 rounds to cross. If I said how big it was before let me know, but I wana get this posted and I know I posted the pond/hollow size, but I dunno about the surrounding clearing/valley thing. Thessan and Lissak are 10 feet inside the clearing on the far side from Sssil.

[beowuuf]

I think I pulled the four 's's from the spelling of Hissssa, can't recall right now! And lol, is Hissssa trying a mixture of guilt and flattery to get his squirrel?


Can Sssssil make a quick move towards the pond and help?


Sssssil was just recovering from the elation of managing to capture the small creature for Hissssa, when he realised the danger he'd justput the others in. He had assumed they would signal again, instead of looking for him. In retrospect, it was a foolish assumption.

"Mother and eggs, mother and eggs!" Ssssssil said quickly and nervously, picking up one of the two eggs and rushing forwards. He decided to try and do the same as before, throwign the egg in to the pond to dirstract the creature. Then perhaps with the immediate danger gone, he could co-ordinate with the others to get the elossss freed, and perhaps think on a way to tactical gte the turtle as well as the eggs.

Sssssil quickly hefted and threw the egg, haste and nerves taking the place of his previous luck....


Yeah, nat 1 for the throw.... do your worst! :p
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3489685/

[raixel]

HAHAHA! Oh, this is gonna be good! Don't you just get a *lovely* feeling when your DM laughs maniacally and says that?

I swear we've rolled more natural 1s in the past couple weeks than in the entire previous 2 years combined! Iive gotten my share of em too, the ssaaros got one on the second reflex (to avoid the tanglefoot bag), the turtle got one twice, Hisssa got eaten by a chain!

And yeah, Hissssa is the way it's spelled in DM, so you're being more canon than me. I just dont like typing all of those 's'es

Thessan notices the bump and wake of the turtle swimming quickly toward the two and motions for Lisssak to stay in place as he quickly starts circling to the other side of the pond, to apparently try and get behind the turtle or perhaps find out if Sssil is nearby. Intent on distracting the creature, Sssil charges forward while saying "Mother and eggs! Mother and eggs!" and throws the egg toward the pond. Unfortunately, Thessan steps right in the path of the egg as Sssil charges out of the foliage and throws, and Sssil can see him turn towards the tracker, his expression one of surprise, just a split second before the large ovoid smashes him full on the end of his snout and shatters, spraying pale green yolk-slime all over the scarred warrior's face and chest and nearly knocking him down.

"Auuugh!" the warrior shouts, slightly stunned as he ineffectualy tries to wipe the slimy goop out of his eyes and nostril slits. "My eyes! It's burning my eyes!"

The turtle reverses course and veers towards where Sssil and Thessan are, apparently deciding that the commotion over on that side is much more of a danger to her nest than the quiet and non-moving Lisssak.

Hahahaha I'm not even kidding, look at Thessan's roll to avoid having it break when it hit him. thessan reflex (1d20+3=4)! I seriously laughed so hard when I saw that. The mental image of Sssil charging out of the bushes saying something nonsensical and chucking and egg which hits Thessan was funny enough, but this is priceless!

We're in combat now. Bad map coming up! I'm looking for a free mapmaking tool right now, but I might just buy Dunjinni. I got a free one called autorealm, it was ok, but had some really bizzare quirks. For insance, you couldnt just erase part of a line, only the whole line, and only when it was selected. Also, there was no fill tool that I could find Can you roll an init, and give me an idea of a 1st round action? You are at the edge of the clearing kind of in the NE corner, Thessan is 20 feet in front of you covered in egg, the pond is right past him, the turtle is in the lower right corner of the pond, and Lissak is 15 feet past that

[beowuuf]

Sssssil watches in horror as everything goes badly wrong. Wheras before Ssssil managed the perfect throw through his father's image, now Sssssil has to have his father's image return, shaking a head with disapproval. Ssssil unhooks his two weapons at his side, and rushes towards the warrior. "Shhhh!" he hisses, trying to cover for himself. "You smell like egg now! Mother has bad eyes! Cover me!" Sssssil then starts making noise with his weapons to attach attention, swishing his axe head and short sword blades against each other, as if preparing to carve up the meat of the turtle already.

He'd felt sorry for the mother earlier, but no longer. Now Ssssil had to prove himself a warrior again, and the ache in his leg was still with him with each step. He hoped Thessan managed to get the egg from his eyes ooner rather than later.


Lol, a double crit fail? What are the chances! (ok, ok, 1 in 400, or apparently less in the case of this starting game Very cool way it all resolved, from an external laughing it at it way. Now all we need to do is survive it!

Initiative 15 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3491659/). Can Ssssssil simply move/double move and draw weapons? I forget if raw d20 had the move and unsheath weaoon combined as one action thing, or if that was shield prep only. I've houserulled it like that for too long to recall if it came from LWRPG or normal 3.5!

[raixel]

MAPhttp://imageshack.us/f/571/clearing.png/ (start of combat)
If your BAB is higher than +1, you can draw/sheathe one weapon as part of movement. If you have two weapon fighting, you can draw/sheathe two light and/or one handed weapons as part of a move. Same for shields, but you cant ready/remove both a weapon or shield in the same round as part of a move. This also applies to wands or any other weapon-like items in easy reach(ie, on a bandoleer, belt ect), otherwise its a move equiv.

I'm gonna wit till you get this map/info, cuz you could move to Thessan in one move and draw both weaps in the process, so you still have a standard. I was debating having Sssil ready an attack on his move and roll for him, just to keep the story flowing, but I didnt wanna do anything without your ok.

Init order:
Thessan: 21
Sssil/Hisssa: 15 If you decide to have Hisssa act on his own, he will move on count 15 1/2
Turtle: 13
Lissak: 4

[beowuuf]

Woohoo! Combat maps Ah, it must be the +6 BAB for unsheathing a weapon in a surprise round was the LW added rule. Forgot about getting the second draw wit hthe two handed feat, I thought I'd have to burn a standard/move to unsheathe the second. If I have the standard action, then Sssssil will indeed go near Thessan - actually passed him to be parallel to the turtle (just within 10 feet). He will throw his hand axe to get the creature's attention, hoping Thessin will not be targetted, but come behind the creature.

I wonder if Ssssil will be able to fumble for his buckler at some point next turn?

Throw attack roll 21, damage 5:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3492797/

Edit: Huh, I thought I sent this before!

[raixel]

Hm. I'm looking at the rules for shield readying, and I have no idea what to do about readying a buckler when your already holding 2 weapons. Since you can ready a shield the same as a weapon (but you cant ready both weapons *and* a shield in the same round), I guess you can ready your buckler as part of a move. That just seems weird though. How the hell would you strap it on your arm if you have a weapon in both hands, as a free action!? God, I wish Dragon magazine still existed so I could write sage advice and go "Ok, someone's using two weapon fighting, so they pull both weapons as a move. Then they want to put their buckler on. Is it a ME or as part of move next round?" Ah well, its nitpicky. You could strap it on after you throw the axe! There, prob solved!

I got a working map in maptools, finally. Last aleration, I promise cuz now I can move the tokens around easily! THe prob with the dundjinni map is that once I "exported" it, I couldnt alter it. So I remade it, as close to the old as I could. You are all still the same distance away from each other, and its still a 60x50 clearing, and everythings still in the same places. THe only thing that changed is the shape of the clearing, slightly. Next step is to figure out a way to number/letter the grid!

And I'm not even gonna *say* what the first thing that popped into my mind when I was thinking about what the smell of the egg should be !!

ROUND 1

Thessan wipes at his face, attempting to remove the yolk from his eyes and nostril slits. He succeeds somewhat, although his eyes appear irritated and swollen. He hears Sssil talking to him, and peers around through streaming eyes for where the sound is coming from. He takes a step towards the treeline where Sssil popped out. Thessan is taking a hit penalty for getting egg blasted. Its better than being blind, though cuz he mangaed to get enough off that he can see

Sssil rushes by the yolk-covered warrior. As he passes, he smells a smell kind of like chlorine, but much more natural and not overpowering, which he knows to be uncooked swamp-turtle egg yolk. The tracker knows the eggs have a chemical similar to burn-peppercayenne inside of them, to keep predators away. Although it is neutralized by cooking, it can be very irritating if left for a long time on a mucous membrane. Some lizars find the slight burn of the raw yolk tasty, although most cook it before eating. He draws his weapons as he runs and clangs them together, attempting to draw the turtle's attention away from the egg-smell. Once he gets close enough he throws his axe at the hissing, snapping creature. The axe flies cleanly end-over-end through the air and buries itself in the soft skin to the side of the turtle's neck.

The turtle extends her neck out fully, head waving between the scent of the broken egg, and the annoyingly noisy other creature. The axe that flies through the air and strikes her underneath her top shell makes up her mind, and she charges at Sssil, hissing and snapping. Sssil sees the heavy beak jabbing towards him and bats the turtle's sensitive nostrils with his sword's hilt, causing the angry beast to let out a loud hiss and pull her head back a bit.

Lisssak stands in shock for a second, apparently not believing what he just saw. Belatedly, the young warrior realizes that he should proabably get over there and help the other two. He charges around the pond, unsheathing his sword as he runs. As the turtle strikes at Ssssil, he runs up, shouting what might be a war-cry. Or a scream of fear, Sssil can't really tell. The young lizar wildly waves his sword mat the creature, missing the turtle by about a foot.

Alright. Round 2! I'm posting both the first map in maptools, and the end of round 1 so you can see the changes. Next step is to get numbers/letters on the grid so you can just say "sssil moves to e3" or whatever. Havent fig out how to do that yet tho. Heres the start of combat http://imageshack.us/f/802/startc.png/ and heres end of round 1 http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8822/round1end.png. If that isnt where you wanted to go let me kno wand i'll fix it. I still need to fig out how to label the squares so that the grid is easily numbered