Ameena's hidden OOC thread

[Ameena]

Did he? I must have missed that...unless it was something that's been posted since last night in which case I haven't got to checking it yet - I'll get back to you if/when I can figure out what it was .


Edit - Ahh, I'm guessing the reference to "evil squeaking demons"...well, anything the nasty horrible dodgy mage Seeroc describes as "evil" might possibly be actually quite helpful. I hope .

[beowuuf]

Lots of evil little squeaking demons, and worse, are through there. Oh my, but Chaos was a twisted one in the end. I would hate to be trapped in there, oh my my my."

[Ameena]

Hehehe...but if she makes friends with the ratties, maybe they can show her how to avoid the "and worse" that's there. And maybe she's not as trapped as Seeroc would like to think she is - maybe she'll find a way out which the possibly-somewhat-less-intelligent/sentient denizens of that area haven't yet discovered/worked out .
Oooh hehehe that would be funny...

"Ooh yes indeed, there are many terribly evil squeaky things in there, you must be careful and watch out - if something ever breaks out of there we'll have to kill it ASAP...hey look! Something is coming through now! Everyone get ready to kill it because it wil be some kind of terrible demonic entity that will rip your bowels and shred your soul and use your bones as toothpicks!"

(The "demon" comes through)

"Ooh, hey guys! Wow, I'm so glad I found you after we all got thrown out by that...erm...mage person...heeeyyy, speaking of mages, what are you doing with him? Eeeek are you prisoners? Where are his scary creatures!"
Etc etc

[beowuuf]

Lol, that is pretty much what could have happened if you'd done something, but sadly I don't think you can now, so you'll have to do something else. And remember, you haven't made it back to the group until you make it back to the group. I'm not going to trap you with killer fuzzles and worse right off, but I'm not goign to stop you if you want to blunder into them or blunder into anythign else around

[Ameena]

Ameena doesn't plan on doing any blundering, just kind of procuring any help that is available, avoiding trouble as much as she can, and trying to find a scent she not only recognises but doesn't associate with horrible violence and/or death .
I'm guessing that the thing Ameena could have done was maybe to do something regarding getting through that door or something - there wasn't much else she could do at that point given the scary crack in the ceiling and the approaching fuzzle-beasty .

[beowuuf]

Surely by this time every single scent is associated with violence and death

And yeah, pretty much. As you say though, what with the scary crack and the fuzzle, there was a time pressure to do anything with the door - plus you'd have needed t odo something clever to interact with the mechanism. Not sure what - I just make the difficult situations, and let you guys come up with the imaginative solutions.

While the fuzzle is walking by your side (lol, so now you look like a pair of miniature pain rats form the game) you will move at half your speed, so only 20 feet per 'round' if you have to move in rounds. Note the fuzzle can't do anymore than a move action without falling unconscious due to aggrevating its wound. Obviously Ameena is free to do a standard action and full movement, but if she double moves or tries anything that the other fuzzle mght want to duplicate, there is a chance of it falling dead. After all, does it know it's on death's door, and even if it does, would it's desire to imitate Ameena mean it overrides it's own concerns?

Anyway, I can think of a few helpful rogue abilities that might come into play in a few turns time, depending on the direction you choose to go in

[beowuuf]

This is just the basic stuff - stats and skills and that. I haven't bothered to list stuff like feat descriptions because they haven't changed...

Name: Ameena
Class: Rogue (Level 5)
Race: Murafu
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Age: 12

Stats:
Strength: 10 (+0)
Dexterity: 17 (+3)
Intelligence: 12 (+1)
Wisdom: 13 (+1)
Constitution: 8 (-1)
Charisma: 9 (-1)

Hit points = 16/20
Armour class = 15 (11) +1AC versus sprung traps
Speed = 20 feet (4 squares), 40 feet (8 squares) if prone and unarmed

Melee bonus: +4
Range / finesse bonus: +7

Fortitude: 0, +2 against disease
Reflexes: +7, +8 versus sprung traps
Will: +2

Skills:
Appraise (Int): (3+1), 4
Acrobatics (Dex): (8+3+2), 13, 17 to balance, +3AC fighting defensively, +6AC total defence
Athletics (Str): (5+0+2), 7, 14 to climb and swim, 18 to avoid swim hazard. Take 10 on climb and swim anytime.
Bluff (Cha): (2-1), 1
Diplomacy (Cha): (8-1), 7
Thievery (Dex): (8+3), 11, 9 only for assessing traps
Escape Artist (Dex): (5+3), 8
Stealth (Dex): (8+3+2), 13, 17 when hiding
Intimidate (Cha): (1-1), 0
Knowledge (Local) (Int): (3+1), 4
Perception (Wis): (8+1), 9
Sense Motive (Wis): (8+1), 9, 13 against small, non-humanoid mammals
Sleight of Hand (Dex): (5+3), 8, +10 for concealing daggers
Speak Language (Murafu): (4)
Speak language (Common): (4)
Speak language (Halfling): (1)

Finesse – Melée attacks with light weapons use Dexterity bonus instead of Strength.
Sneak attack - for successful strike on opponent denied dex bonus to AC, extra 3d6 damage is done.

Spotted a couple of corrections needed in the character sheet, nothing big. Changes in bold

[Ameena]

Ah cool...I had already done the 3d6 for Sneak Attack (but evidently did so after posting up the above), and my description for Wep Finesse reads the same as what you've put. Well, almost - mine specifies "light/natural weapons" since that then covers Bite as well ("natural" weapons being stuff that's actually part of you like teeth and claws, something I suppose only tends to aplpy to monsters rather than PCs ).

[beowuuf]

Mpa of your surroundings - you might recognise a little better where you are now Obviously, that's as a player, as a character Ameena will only see the first little area and bends, but will see some form of faint light comign from the corridor to the right.

[Ameena]

Ahh...isn't that the "...the Deceiver, the Snake" bit from the start of Level 10? Bleh, hate that bit...at least, I do in RTC - I got stuck there, I think, the last time I played 'cause I'd use my mana zapping the Beholders (who could practically kill me in one shot), then have to sleep to regain it, by which time the bastards had respawned again so I couldn't get past. And yet I have on other occasions so I dunno what happened that time 'cause I've finished it before in RTC, lol. I don't remember that illusionary corridor down the side, so either I've always missed it every time I've ever played DM, or did you just add that in for our game?
As long as I don't run into any bloody Scorpions that's fine .

[beowuuf]

Hehe, yes it is, but if you are sensible - and it sounds liek you are - then you'll be going up to level 9 anyway

And yes, Lord Chaos has remodelled many areas. For example, the area Helm and Ameena was at that needed the YA shaped spteeping around used to be the initial 9 pushbutton double grate area in the start of level 2!

I dunno if you can spot it, but Seeroc's room i nthe main thread is the teleporter trap area where all the monsters used to be behind. Seeroc's appropriated it as his own prison/experimentation area! If you looped around the door you moved to, you could have gotten to the wall the other side of whidch Haynuus was licking.

Anyway, Ameena knows none of this right now! All she knows is soldiers are close. She won't catch wind of her friends unless she gets to the top of the stairs if she goes there, and even then I'll need another good roll!

[Ameena]

Teleporter trap area? I did actually get the book out last night and have a look at the map for Level 10 (and turn it around a bit) to see if I could work out where they (Seeroc and the others) were, but I couldn't match it to any area near the stairs so I figured either it wasn't the place I thought it might be, or maybe it just got all moved around by Seeroc's little friends and so is no longer recognisable as whatever area it used to be.
I had figured out the part about the 3x3 room near the beginning - I thought that was an obvious one (apart from the pattern needed to open the door, obviously...oh, and the fact there was only one door that needed oipening and not two) .

[beowuuf]

It's actually pretty direct for the most part.
http://www/dmjump.net/level10.jpg

The fake walls represent walls torn down or put up. The actual rooms with teleporters has been restructtured, but's it's right there

[Ameena]

Ahhh, I see it now...I got confused by the presence of the stairs - evidently those have been moved about a bit . So Ameena's quite close to them all then, comparatively - all she needs to do is get up the stairs and past those guards near the fountain room, mooch around enough to pick up the scent of the others and then follow it to the Central Stairwell. I'm guessing, though, that detecting a certain gnomish scent will set her mental alarm bells ringing .

[beowuuf]

Yeah, and I realised the distances aren't too bad, so a good perception roll and she'll pick up the scent.

And you seem to think a little too highly of Ameena's nose at times. She's got no trained skill in any tracking, etc, so no, you won't sudden;y think 'SEEROC' getting a whiff of one gnome, just like you don't think 'BROHUR' gettign close to a human guard. In the alternative reality, Brighteyes did not accompany the party - Seeroc would have been encoutnered in his room, with his 'little ones', so you can imagien the range of smells - especialyl burnign when the flames started going.

[Ameena]

Hmm yes...I suppose it might depend on her previous experience of gnomes and whether she'd remember about Seeroc straight away - a gnome still smells like a gnome, it's just that an individual would have their own scent. So Seeroc smells like Seeroc and Gnome. And, say, Haynuus smells like half-orc and Haynuus, something she'd more likely pick up on straight away 'cause she's been around him long enough to pick up his personal scent, I imagine. Well, I hope .
So maybe Ameena wouldn't immediately think "Seeroc" at the smell, but she may at least detect "Gnome" and think "Hang on, we've only met one gnome so far in this place...". Whether or not she remembers that gnome getting stabbed/squashed/blown up/eaten or whatever is another matter .

[beowuuf]

Perhaps, but she's got to get passed the strong smell of cooked fuzzle or pull a better perception check to detect the gnome and the party

[Ameena]

Yeah, I made a refernce to that just now in my IC post .

[Ameena]

In case you're interested, here's a list of the options I'm considering so far...
-Go to the bottom of/halfway up the stairs (depending how long the staircase is) and make some kind of sound (a loud squeak or a yell of "Hello?" or something to attract the attention of the guards, then run through the illusionary wall. Hopefully this will get some of them to come down and maybe be distracted by the battle - this could allow Ameena to try and yoink from them or sneak past them to where there are now less guards and try to get a potion there instead. The down side to this is that it will mean that all the guards are on alert so stealing from them probably won't work considering they've got torches and will be looking around. Not only this but they might not come down the stairs at all, which would mean all Ameena would do would be to put them on their guard and watching the stairs.
-Do the same as above but stay hidden for longer and just see what happens - here might end up being a big fight or something if the soldiers get involved in the worms-vs.-rats thing. And Ameena might feel guilty about it. And again, it means all the guards are on alert.
-Make sure ratty stays behind and sneak back up to steal a potion off one of the guards by the top of the stairs. The obvious down side to this is that they might catch her in the act and there probably won't be any easy way of talking her way out of it since it would be pretty obvious what she was trying to do.
-Make a more direct approach by just going back up the stairs and attempting to engage the guards in conversation. If Ameena knew about the situation with Seeroc and the others, she could just imply that she's with them and they're waiting for her and that for the guards to delay her and not give her what she wants might mean that Seeroc becomes...unhappy...with them. But since she doesn't know about that, it's irrelevant, lol. But likewise to the above suggestions, this would mean that the guards become fully aware of her and might just decide to skewer her there and then, especially considering her appearance in comparison to the resident fuzzle-beasties despite the fact she's wearing a cloak, a belt-pouch, and speaking to them in their own language.
So yeah...some not-very-good options to choose from there, lol. There might be one or two others I've temporarily forgotten about but those about about all for now. Buggering off to look for the others and not bothering with the healing potion is not an option, as far as Ameena is concerned, so it hasn't even occurred to her .

[beowuuf]

Run out of time, sorry!

See you on the flip side

[beowuuf]

Ok, now, look to the main post.

Observe how some poeple who should know better - like Westian and Falkor - are trusting Seeroc with the switch.

Observe how, if I am reading it correctly, Westian, Aurk, and Farel are volunterrily getting into position behind the teleporter ready to be trapped.

Realise that Seeroc hasn't closed the main door, so his two grak-graks can walk in unobserved once the teleporter light dims and everyone is distracted, and note that the other two grak-graks can walk throgu hthe illusionary wall at any time to back up Seeroc and also press the button. Not that Seeroc is that incapable, he is putting it on a little.

Anyway, just funny how it's all working out. Aurek's DC25 success was never goign to be enough to calm the scorpion, but is good enough to at least make it pause.

So yeah, what's going ot happen is all the gang are gunn move forward to grab people, the scoprion is going to (without the haze in the way) properly spot Seeroc and RUN THE HELL AWAY and meanwhile Farel's squire is gunna spot Seeroc and ask why the party is with him...at about the same moment Seeroc or his grak-grak closes the teleporter curtain on them, goes 'ha ha', and starts chatting away to Falkor and Haynuus.

Wacky fun. So yeah, you might be needed soon to help. Either that, or just appear later and give a big 'duh' to them when they tell you the tale

[Ameena]

Rofl cool. I haven't read the main thread yet since I start at the bottom of the forum and work my way up (not sure why, probably because I read posts in that order too since that's the order they were posted from oldest to most recent). I'll get to it soon but it sounds interesting .
Ameena just needs to grab a potion and get it to the ratty to heal her, then she won't feel guilty about leaving her behind in her (the ratty's) own territory. It was just the injury she wants to sort out, really, since it was herself who caused it. As for her own injuries, she gives less of a priority to herself, especially with a companion who's so badly injured. She'll keep an eye out for something as she goes, provided she can sort out the ratty and then get away from here. I imagine that if the rest of the group can manage to survive their current encounter, Westian will be happy to help out. That is, if the group don't all think that she's a grak-grak (if one does its shapechange thingy while facing the group) and decide to try and kill her . Actually hehehe...that could actually end up being an accidental meta-game on their part. That is, if they see grak-graks and know they can change shape ('cause even if grak-graks only change to match whomever they're actually fighting, there's no reason why the rest of the group would necessarily twig that, eh? ), Ameena arriving in a post from me shows that it probably is her. But Ameena arriving in a post from you...well...maybe we could have some fun, for one post, no?
It would also save my having to describe Ameena's current appearance (her injuries and stuff) in an OOC note since you could do it as part of your narration - otherwise I would have provided one when she finally reunited with them.
Oh, but that idea is evil and nasty and twisted and...and...

[beowuuf]

Lol, would I do such a horrible th... yes, yes I would. And you know what, I think it might end up happening like that

Usually I don't get a chance to act on them, and money almost blew todays. I think if it wasn't so late in the evening the scorpion might have given him warning, or something. As it is, the spell still works for the rest of the encounter, so he can try to ask the scorpion to do stuff if the scorpion can get free.

[Ameena]

I'll have to read that thread - I read it earlier, not too long after making my above post, but I haven't read it since. So anything that's bene posted since about 11am today I haven't got round to reading at the time of typing this message.
Regarding the Ameena-arrival-via-GM-post...ooh yay, this could be most fun . Okay, now I'm plotting with the GM - you can't deny it!
Though I do rather hope I don't get ganked by my own group, lol.

[beowuuf]

Wheras live by the sword, die by the sword - evil DM would love to see the party gank you thinking it was a trick

[Ameena]

Lol well maybe they will, but not quite enough for me to actually be dead - then they can shti themselves when they realise Ameena's not a gral-grak. I suppose that would only be obvious if something weird happens to grak-graks when they die, like if they revert to whatever their natural form looks like. Hehehe then the rest of the group sticks this Ameena-looking thing, who collapses on the floor all bleeding and stuff...and stays like that...
But at least if that did happen, she'd probably forgive them because she knows about the grak-graks and would realise that they thought she was one.
I'm also slowly stockpiling a bit list of stuff I'm gonna want to know with regard to how much Ameena will remember regarding Seeroc and his little pets and stuff...but I'll bombard you with it when I'm a post or two from actually arriving on the scene .

[beowuuf]

Aww, how nice!

[beowuuf]

Sorry about your updates sufferin a little, when there's an encounter it usually takes off and on the whole night for me to mess aroudn with various things to get the fight done.

And it doens't help I had the pleasant distraction at the weekend of my friend down, and the less pleasant work distractions too!

[Ameena]

Heh, it's okay - means an extra half-hour or so playing Dragon Age that might otherwise have been spent typing out a reply here .

[beowuuf]

In 4th edition, did I misunderstand how adjacent is definied? I thought I recall you saying it was the four squares aroudn you, not the eight including the diagnonals, and I was sure I saw that stated somewhere else too. However, I can't find it anywhere

Was DMing a 4th edition game recently, used that adjacent is four squares only, and found everything started sucking