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

[beowuuf]

While Deephold keeps back one creature with his will, Haynuus opts for the more mundane and powerful option of keepign the creature bakc with a shoulder. The mummy, so slow moving, apparently had no ability to combat the half-orc's powerful charge, and was slammed hard into the wall.

Deephold took advantage of the distraction to rush out the door. He also apparently heard Ameena's yells, for he grabbed the torch as he went passed. "Haynuus, quickly!" the dwarf yelled.

The mummy that Haynuus had pushed back was freezing cold, though thehalf-orc was tough enough to endure the chill for now. However, the creature then slammed a powerful fist into Haynuus's stomach, the force travelling through Haynuus's armour to crack a low rib too.

Haynuus will take 10 damage from that - ouch!

The other mummy started moving forwards hesistantly, apparently still shaken from the effect of the dwarf priest's prayer. He also lashed out at the half-orc, since Haynuus was blocking passage to the dwarf. Luckily, the hastily donned banded mail was just about doing its job, and the cold taloned hand was deflected in a less powerful manner off Haynuus's arm.

Ok, Haynuus has two mummies around him - one above, one to the side. The dwarf is currently a few tiles back, holding for the half-orc.

Ameena could see the battle clearly, even though the dwarf was waving aroudn the torch. However, it meant the tunnel was even darker now. Still, she could not really make out the distant noise getting any louder - for now. [/b]

[ian_scho]

OOC - Oh bugger. Maybe Deephold and Ameena should just run and let Haynuus get chomped. No point in losing three characters. Haynuus could 'play dead' then. As well, he could take a 5' step back then run, taking only one AoO...

[beowuuf]

You can't five-foot step with another action (that's fourth edition) There is the withdrawn action, which lets you safely move out of your first square and then carrying on moving double your move speed (40 foot with the banded armour I believe). So effectively the same, except you get extra squares

Edit: Don't forgot, you can also use total defense to get a +4 AC bonus, during which you could simply five foot step back. I woulnd't recommend it, but it would be an option to delay the mummies to let Ameena and Deephold get some distance in. Or you can fight defensively for a -2AC bonus but -4 attack penalty. You can five-foot step safely and still get your two attacks.

I would vote for the withdraw though

[Ameena]

OOC - Or Deephold could take up Ameena's suggestion about the torch - it was implied that he heard it, at least, though he's not said/done anything further about it...

[beowuuf]

Haynuus blocked the mummies, or else Deehold's readied attack on them would have gone off if they got close with the torch. Though the question you have to ask yourself is this: are the mummies now even more vulnerable to fire than normal by being frozen, or less vulnerable...



Also, why do you want to put your only unarmoured healer in harm's way? :p

[Ameena]

OOC - Because the tank's a bit tied up at the moment and the only other party member is both too small to hold a torch, and rather flammable .

BIC - Ameena stands on her hind legs behind Deephold, keeping a wary eye on the flickering flames of the torch in case the dwarf should accidentally bring them anywhere near her.
"Can you do that?" she asks again. "Can you put your magic inside fire so it works better on them, or something? And can we shut the door? Maybe it will take him a while to get out again if he has to wait or call for help..."
She figures she doesn't specify who "he" is, and anyway she isn't entirely sure whether they should all continue to be careful about using names even though the elf is unconscious.

[beowuuf]

Deephold turns to Ameena. "The powers of prayer and Larethian do not work like that. Though Larethian does help those who help themselves. Perhaps he will instill greater fear of fire in those who naturally fear it, and make it burn a little brighter!" So saying, Deephold starts praying again, shuffling forward and swinging the torch beside Haynuus.


Good idea. Ian, you could try to shove one of the undead back through the door instead, or even just intimidate the crap out of them - especially the one you just bashed into a wall a moment ago They also might be reminded of their 'charge', and perhaps hesitate long enough to lock the door. I didn't mention it in the confusion, but as Ameena is free, she will be able to spot the door button and keyed lock on this side.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus was in a panic. With two of these things looming over him he thought he had run out of options, but at least Deephold was free from the cell... Then Ameena mentioned the door. The door!

He had a go at shoving/grappling/shouting and spitting the mummy through the door. (1d20+8=11) It was a desperate action, but genius if it worked.

OOC - Doh!

[beowuuf]

Haynuus picked on the one still a little bewildered, as it was the easiest to push around. It was a complicated manoeuver to shuffle around and shove the thing, and Haynuus was sure he was about to fail. Luckily, the mummy still seemed to be breaking out of whatever terror it had previously been under. Deephold saw the chance, and called loudly Larethian's name as he waved the torch.

There was a satisfying rush as the flame leapt higher on the torch, and then a satisfying moan as Haynuus smashed int othe stumbling unbalanced mummy and pushed it throgu hthe door. It stumbled over the fallen elf priest, temprarily collapsing to the ground with a thump and crack of ice.


Wow, sucky roll there Ian. The mummy's resist roll was only 7, but with a strength of ...well, it had enough to beat you, let's just say that. However, I thought I would be nice and turn Deephold's torch attack into an aid another (seemed reasonable given how close the bullrush attempt was) so with that bonus added, Haynuus managed to just beat it and shove it through the door. That's the top most (barely finished being turned) mummy though...

The other mummy then snarled at seeing the attack. It apparently did not appreciate Haynuus pushing around its fellow as it had been pushed around, and gave a massive double-handed swing of its powerful fist into the back of Haynuus's head. Haynuus moved at the last moment when pushing the other mummy, but there was still a skiffing blow from those powerful arms to deal with.

The mummy moved forward threateningly, obviously aiming to either finish off the half-orc, or smash away the torch of the cleric.


8 damage, Ian! How's Haynuus looking? Remember, as Haynuus has no non-lethal damage right now, the die hard effect kicks in. So if he goes to the first few negative hit points, you can choose to still use a standard action at -1 hit points (instead of falling unconscious), or I think you can use a move action 'for free' (need to check that)

Anyway, one mummy temporarily pushed through the door, one on the other side of Haynuus looking to smash whoever is upright. It's a good plan, but you guys are all low-ish on health and they hit hard. Again, I feel a little bad I put you in harm's way. Then I recall it's all your fault usually, and try my best to kill you :p[/b]

[ian_scho]

OOC - Haynuus has now ZERO hitpoints and still feels lucky!

[beowuuf]

Wow. You possess the wacky 'disabled' mid-state of 3.5. It's exactly as I said for your die-hard feat at negative point. You can only do a single action each round now (so no full round attacks, charges, withdrawls, total defense, etc), move actions are 'free', but standard actions will cost you a hit point. Luckily, deephold does have that potion he brewed before this all kicked off. Unluckily, there's a mummy standing right beside you!

[Ameena]

Ameena watches as Deephold uses his magic to make the torch burn brighter, apparently causing one of the emotionless undead creatures to almost seem somewhat nervous and thus enabling Haynuus to force it through the door. However, such actions are not without cost to the half-orc. Though Ameena has no intention of simply standing there and let her friend have his head smashed in by something that isn't even alive.
"Didn't you make another potion?" she asks Deephold quickly, moving forward to stand next to him. "I'll give it to Haynuus - can you try to make that other mummy go back through the door, maybe by waving the torch at it some more?"

OOC - You can assume that Ameena does what she says she'll do if Deephold hands over the potion - she'll take it from him ASAP and go shove it into Haynuus's hand. I don't think I have anything that lets me move critters around so I'll leave it to Haynuus and/or Deephold to get the other mummy through the door. I think it would be best if we could get both of them through there before we shut it, to save us having to fight anything. Then again, if the other mummy looks like it's gonna get up and come to rejoin the battle, I think we're better off at least locking that one in there along with Dolo. Maybe the three of us can take the other one. What happened to that knife, by the way? I seem to recall that Haynuus put it between his teeth, though I also seem to recall that he's been speaking during the fight but I can't remember. I would guess that as it's been described as only a "ceremonial" knife, it's probably not that good, but still...

[beowuuf]

Haynuus is very talented, and his speech with and without knives in his teeth is probably the same If you want it,it could probably have been knocked loose or dropped asa free action.

Ok, Ameena handing the potion to Haynuus (assumign she takes on all the risk) will have an AoO generated against her. Haynuus could choose to five-foot step backwards out of reach before using his move action to drink the potion. With 2d6 health restored, he could then use his standard action to either move, intimidate, or ready an attack. Deephold could move backwards to lure the mummy, and you could dual-strike it or drive it back.

Of course, anything where the fighters pull back leaves poor Ameena in harm's way if the mummy changes focus! Also, remember you are against the clock here - the other mummy will get back up soon too.

[Ameena]

OOC - Ohh, I thought the mummy was the other side of Haynuus from where Ameena and Deephold are. Umm...maybe an AoO would be a bad idea...unless I can roll Acrobatics to dodge it or something? Or if Haynuus moves first, so I can pass it to him without risking getting hit. Basically, I recommend that we get Haynuus healed, then force the second mummy back into the room and then shut the door. However, if the other mummy looks like it's gonna make it out of the room again before that happens, then we should shut the door beforehand and try to take out the mummy we'll then be stuck with. Ameena herself hasn't thought of using the knife yet, but OOC I imagine it would be useful...hmm actually, maybe not - stupid undead mobs, no Sneak Attack damage, dammit, lol.

[beowuuf]

Sure, stepping back is doable. No acrobatics to avoid otherwise, I'm afraid. And yeah, mummies such for you - no sneak attack, and their damage reduction means you no mechanical damage/effects. Still, she can aid another for attack.defense bonuses, and the firts mummy was affected narratively by the attacks of Falkor and Ameena even when mechanically there was no damage being dealt...

[Ameena]

OOC - Hehe true...but I think maybe best to wait and see what Haynuus would do for now. After all, Deephold hasn't actually handed that potion over yet. Ian, would Haynuus step back to drink it or would be he too busy grappling with death/undeath to notice?

[ian_scho]

OOC - Personally I'd close the door asap and then we halve the pain. Ameena could do the closing, then we have Haynuus take a step back, and swap the ceremonial blade for an emptying flask in his mouth! I'd be happy to post that this afternoon, but only if you want to close the door!

[beowuuf]

It's a tricky spot - obviously if Haynuus was in full health, this fight would be substancially easeri. Infact, if you guys could instantly recover between fights they would become trivially easy! Still, that's the reason why there needed to be some tactics in not stirring the priest back to you early, and chosing how you spent your time. I think it was the right choice to put the armour on for what it's worth - Deehold is a slow moving dwarf so losing the speed and gaining a check penalty for more AC seems a good swap. I think halving your opponents is also good idea. Deephold's not done yet, he might be able to hold the other critter long enough with the torch to ley Haynuus get back into the game! The mummy is still a touch opponent though... power attack might be an idea, combined with everyone helping Haynuus get some attack bonuses to offset the accuracy loss...

Ameena - if you go for the door, give me an acrobatics check. Since it's not directly to do with getting passed the mummy, I'll let you take a -4 penalty to the acrobatics check to give yourself a +2AC bonus for still keeping up your defenses. if you want to hedge your bets, that is Ah, choices, choices!

[ian_scho]

OOC - Haynuus is dead on his feet, and I think if Ameena COULD close the door that would be my preferred option this time. She's already posted though not with an action.
Beowuuf has a good point though. How fast is Haynuus and the Dwarf relative to the mummy! My idea of running away is garbage if they don't run fast enough

[beowuuf]

You are about equal, luckily. So for example a good five-foot push, turn or some other delaying tactic mean you wouldn't be caught up with. As long as nothing is comign the other way of course :p

[ian_scho]

OOC - I'll post in the hope that either Ameena or Deephold closes the door! Also, I'm making the assumption that the knife gets swapped for an open VI flask :=O

"Door!" Shouts the half-orc whose already grey-scale vision is clouding over in red. He takes a defensive step back and a hand... No wait a paw seems to whip the sort blade out of his mouth and replace it with a magic potion (2d6=8). It was then he could hear in the back of his mind, Brown Fighter is about to die. Suddenly it all came flashing back but he knew that his existence was in the balance.

OOC - Did I understand earlier that his action was the defensive step back, then a free action for having someone flip the kife to the flask to drinking the thing... Maybe Haynuus could turn the key?

[Ameena]

OOC - Lol well I'm not sure about Ameena taking the knife herself - like I mentioned, she hasn't thought of doing so heself yet, and besides, she'd have to actually climb up Haynuus in order to reach that high, unless he's on his knees or something (since I'm pretty sure he's probably nearly three times her height) . He'd have to pass it to her or chuck it on the floor for her to pick up or something. I'll umm...post an IC based on...stuff...

BIC - Ameena takes the potion from Deephold and darts over to Haynuus as he steps back toward her, again moving a little awkwardly on only three feet as the fourth is taken up with holding the flask. She shoves it into Haynuus's free hand, making sure he has a good hold on it before hurling herself in the direction of the door and leaping up to press the button in order to (at least temporarily) seal the elf and the downed mummy inside the room. Then she turns to deal with her own concerns as she knows that her actions have moved her within distance of yet another thing that might easily kill her.

OOC - Assuming I can't do anything more with my turn as I've already moved and pushed the button...here's that Acrobatics roll for erm...whatever it was I was specifically rolling it for...28 (14+14).

[beowuuf]

Lol, well, I rolled Deephold's last (I think) turning attempt this extended encounter, and the mummy's resist. Only rolled one die, rolled a 1 Rerolled for the mummy but accidentally put in two rolls, so Deephold got a re-roll that I wouldn't have used. He rolled another 1. Looked bleak, were it not for the fact the mummy rolled a 3 for its resist! Wow, luck saves the day...ok, good tactics win the day, luck mitigates your evil DM's creature placement. I'll also be nice, since Ian mentioned the key, and assume either Haynuus or Ameena will grab the key for the lock and actually lock the two inside. Unless you guys tell me otherwise!

I need to be nice, since Raixel's game is now gunna affect your game pretty soon... teehee!


Ameena managed to avoid the range of the ghastly and air-chilling mummy to quickly hit the door release, slamming the door down on the unconscious elf priest, and the undead guardian who was upright and about to come back into the corridor. With a mighty bellow, the mummy inside the room helplessly watched as the door decended, sealing it it.

Ameena had a brief vision of a jet black Ameena with red eyes, glaring and snarling at her, apparently somehow its cape tied to the head of Dolo Smitre. As the door finally fell, the little nega-murafu pointed to Ameena, and then slowly drew a paw across its own throat. It would have been humourous were it not for the unanswered question of what powers the black mirror-murafu could have still over Ameena.

Haynuus faced his dizzying moment of almost blacking out, but came through it fine. In the meantime, a shaken Deephold called upon Larethian again. There wa a strain in Deephold's voice. It was very apparent that he was not confident that Larethian would keep answering his prayers.

However, the mummy seemed distracted by the activities and by the sight of its charge and fellow being locked away. The flaring torch - backed up by Deephold holding onto his holy symbol - seemed to deter the mummy from any course of action. It, too, moaned and took steps back, backing itself into a corner against its own better judgement. Its eyes were wide with hatred and fear in equal measure.


No, wait, Ameena and Deephold get AoO agains tthe departing mummy. So the other 1 will count for Deephold missing. Ameena, feel free to roll an AoO if yo wish

Right, so technically Ameena used all her actions, while Haynuus and Deephold still have a move action. Also, with the mummy incapacitated for a round, that means everyone then gets a combat round 'for free'.

You guys could just run - Ameena can catch up no problem, so that would be a move action and a run down the other corridor if you like. Or, of course, you could decide to use the move actions to swap the flask around, then Deephold could attack or cast a spell while also stepping back, while Haynuus steps forward and full round attacks.

Your call - you guys now do have the luxury of running instead of fighting. Take your pick

Edit: Finished anarrative, sorry!

[Ameena]

OOC - I thought I already handed over the flask - I did it as part of my last post before leaping at the button. And I don't recall a key even being mentioned but maybe I missed that somewhere along the lines. And is that last IC sentence of yours gonna have some kind of ending, Wuffy?

BIC - Ameena realises, as the door comes down, that she's left her cloak inside the room. She sees the dark murafu-shape gesturing at her, but quickly looks away and conjures up a few memories of real murafu to try and block it out. Meanwhile, she looks aorund for what to do next.

OOC - Just wanted to get in a reaction to what just happened, really - I'll do some actions once I have some clue of what everyone else is doing .

[ian_scho]

With the mummy scared, and Deephold with Ameena closeby, Haynuus elected to run. He turned from the coldness of the mummy to see the door edging down to the floor. It was then he noticed the ceremonial knife. There was no time to pick it up but maybe...

"Here!..." And with that he skitted the knife across the flagstone floor with his foot to Ameena. She was never defenceless, but always in need of more umph in the half-orc's opinion. "...And now run!"

Movement was decidedly 'lumpy' in his new and foul smelling armour where it was more difficult to traverse the corridor. While his sandals flip-flopped on the floor he decided that yes, he deserved a wash this month as it had been an icky few days, even for the most uncouth of orcs. He followed the path towards the repetitive and perhaps mechanical sound.

[Ameena]

OOC - Couple of questions. Firstly, where this key that I only noticed mentioned in the last GM-post (and therefore probably missed whenever else it was mentioned...or else have just completely forgotten about )? Secondly, if said key is somewhere immediately accessible, how much of an action would it be to use it and then (on all-fours) leg it?

[beowuuf]

It's one of Ian's actions he put forward (grabbing a key while he was taking a step back). I never mentioned the key before that, because no-one had actually looked around the area yet because you were being attacked my mummies at the time. It's a reasonable thing to assume was around. And, of course, if you've just closed the door and left, anyone could free the priest.

It's right beside the push button. IF you are worried somehow about the logistics of Ameena making a grab for it after jumping for the push button, then Haynuus will take it, otherwise I assume Ameena can grab it during her acrobatics check for closing the door.

[ian_scho]

OOC - Haynuus has just been lol-zored? Why just close the door when you can lock it and take the key out as well!

[beowuuf]

Anyway, there's no need to use another action to do anythign with the key, its an assumed action that has already happened or can be foled into moving away. I think Haynuus and Deephold are running away, so if Ameena is doing the same, then I can update up to the end of the next round.

[Ameena]

OOC - Okay then, yeah - Ameena will have (presumably by way of a leap or two) hit the button, yoinked the key, and then used said key in the keyhole to lock the door.