Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

[Ameena]

Ameena considers her options. So being submissive and attempting to co-operate doesn't seem to work - these creatures appear to think only in terms of hostility. Well, maybe if they're so aggressive, perhaps attempting to speak more in their language will work, now that she knows a little of it.
She spaces out her paws on the ground, taking a more aggressive physical stance and ready to dodge anything more which might come her way. She glances at the rat-creature again, trying to remember how tough they are. Maybe her teeth won't be enough. Maybe she should show this one a hint of what she can do.
Yes, maybe that would work.
She alters position again, now standing upright and drawing the (albeit not particularly sturdy-looking) knife from her belt. She holds it out in front of her in a defensive position, then gives it a few twists and flourishes to demonstrate that she knows how to use it, then returns to the defensive stance.
She maintains eye contact with the rat-creature throughout all of this, an action which seems to almost universally signify aggression among species, and makes a few more rat-noises, these ones louder and more insistent.
Then she just hopes that this idea will work.

OOC - Heh, now watch as I probably totally fail this...oh, for translation, the rat-noises and body language are to suggest "I'm warning you, don't keep trying to bite me. I can fight you if I have to and then you'll get hurt. Stop being so aggressive. Don't make an enemy of someone you don't know. I can take you.", stuff along those lines. She still doesn't want to fight but she's trying to convey that she can if she's forced into it, and that it would be easier for the rat-beasty to just not keep trying to attack her because it (she hopes) won't get them anywhere.
So, for that, watch my Epic Fail Intimidate roll...ddaaaammn...it almost stopped on 18 then rolled over...umm...Intimidate = 2 (2+0) . I think Ameena is about to get nommed again . Oh, and Sense Motive, since she's looking right at the rat-beasty for a response = oops...14 (1+13). I think my d20 doesn't much like me today, lol.

[beowuuf]

I'll give you a +2 for sense motive given you got a decent sense motive last time, plus your initial good diplomacy would surely cover intuiting the actions of the rat. So 16, not brilliant but still good.

Ameena spotted that her suddenly brandfishing of a weapon and skillful spinning did indeed caused the rat to pause for a moment, and it's ears to momentarily flatten in fear I'll leave the rattie expert to tell me the actual rattie fear response. However, she could also perfectly spot the moment the rat seemed to realise no attack was forthcoming. The twinkle in its eye and twitch of its head was followed swiftly by action. The thing simply leapt from a standing start, and Ameena was lucky to catch its attack around her forearm instead of her throat. It's jaws bit deep, though Ameena was - for now, able to shove it back again.

Sorry, you didn't pull a Haynuus, the rat got a decent resist on your intimidation, incase you couldn't have guessed. Worse, it got a natural 20 to attack! Luckily for you, that just means 4hp damage. 4 lethal incase that wasn't clear - this thing is in your face to apparently conquer!

So, you can try to push the intimidation angle, althoug hthe failure might make it harder to succeed. Or fight/flight is still an option. Or something else sneaky/passive? So many options, though many might lead to being bitten again

[Ameena]

OOC - Ouch, so I'm on 8hp now...well, that Intimidate roll was rather shit, lol. I think Ameena may have to urgently up the status of her actions...
Oh, and just for RP's sake, which of her forelegs was it that just got bitten?

BIC - Ameena gives a squeak of pain but manages to keep hold of her knife as the rat-creature bites her again. It seems she may have to resort to speaking their language even further or risk losing her life itself...
She makes a lunge of her own, aiming the knife in a quick stab at the rat-creature's left shoulder before retreating to her defensive stance again.
"I don't want to fight you," she says again, "but at this rate we'll both just end up wearing each other down..."
Privately she hopes, somewhat desperately now, that this fight will end soon. She has no further tricks that she can fall back on - she's in a hostile environment, backed into a dead-end, fighting a creature that despite its apparent physical similarities to her own race doesn't seem to understand the notion of peaceful communication, and all by herself. Even if she survives this encounter, she knows, she's bound to run into more of these creatures fairly shortly afterward, and she's hardly in any state to last long against them. She wishes she had something useful in one of her pouches, but already knows that she doesn't. About the only thing she can think of would be to throw some food at the creature and see if it will become distracted and for some reason start eating it and give her a small chance to run. But she'd never fall for that. Then again, she wouldn't have got herself into a situation where she was threatening and biting someone like this...
As an afterthought to her brief strike, Ameena decides to add in a few extra aggresive-sounding squeaks, as though to say "There! You see! I can fight too...", though she doesn't know whether they'll have any effect. Already she's far too tired of this.

OOC - Right, let's see if my d20 is being nicer now. To-hit roll = 18 (15+3). Damage roll (if that hits) = 2 (d6 roll halved then rounded up - rolled a 3 so 1.5 rounded up = 2). Ameena's not aiming to kill, just to do enough damage to show she's serious. Ish. Yes, I know the knife-strike would be lethal damage, but hopefully the rat-critter will figure that pointy metal object vs. rat hide = ouch. Hopefully.

[beowuuf]

It would have bit Ameena's weapon leg

Ameena aimed the blow at the creature's shoulder to teach it some fear, but the thing was already leaping at Ameena in attack./ The little blow turned serious, and the knife bit deep.

The rat screamed in pain, and staggered backwards, tottering on its legs.

Painpainouchpainhurtpainpainouch seemed to go its faint squeaking, and Ameena saw the rodent adopt the same passive posture Ameena had done mere moments ago in response to the blow and the aggressive squeaking.


I rolled the hit points pretty low health on this critter, so it was never goign to be a challenge as long as Ameena could connect a blow. Technically Ameena's melee should be +4 not +3 as she gets a +1 ickle bonus on attack rolls which I forgot to factor in, and also because its a knife, Ameena gets to use finesse so actually the attack bonus is +7. Either way, you could have taken the -4 non-lethal penalty and still hit.

Anyway, it's on 0 hit points. By the RAW technically it would be dead, although NPCs and PCs only go to a disabled state - like Helm was on, where they move half move, but can fall unconscious and dying if they strain themselves with a standard action. I'll do that given the intent of the blow. Alternatively, you can decide to ret-con the non-lethal strike, and the ickle rat will only be staggered - same effect, except without the death.

Note that the creature might act differently depending on whether it's just feeling stunned, or whether it's actually feels like it might die. Anyway, the immediate action is still the same - the critter is essentially 'fighting defensively' and looking meek at you , just liek you did to it a moment ago

[Ameena]

OOC - I did use Finesse on the roll - Dex mod is +3, my Str mod is 0 .

BIC - Ameena stares in shock as the rat-creature virtually impales itself on her blade. She didn't mean for that to happen! And she has no means of healing.
She immediately puts her knife away, aware of the blood staining it yet having nothing to wipe it with at the moment except her own fur or her cloak, besides there are more pressing concerns at the moment. She drops back down to all-fours and reverts to a more passive (though not quite submissive) stance. She puts her head to one side and moves forward a little, wincing as pain shoots through her forelegs. She will need to deal with her own wounds at some point, she knows, but the injury she's just accidentally dealt this rat-creature looks as though it could well be critical.
She makes sure her stance remains non-threatening, moves forward a little but not too much, in case the rat-creature thinks she's trying to attack, and gestures with her head and body to indicate that she wants to move alongside the ratlike creature in order to offer help. She also adds a few, much softer squeaks - "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. I want to help you. I'm sorry.", and hopes that these creatures are not so focused on aggression that they won't recognise a gesture of contrition and an offer of aid when it comes. Exactly what she can do to help right now, she has no idea. About all she can think of is to help this creature lick its wounds and somehow escort it back to its own people. It? Clearly, this one is female. It seems she's been in this place rather too long if she's started to think of living beings as "it". Of course, the other rat-creatures might just tear her apart as soon as they detect her, but she almost feels as though she deserves it for dealing out such a wound in the first place.

OOC - Aaawww, poor fuzzles . So yes, Ameena would like to stand alongside the ratty-beasty and offer support, maybe help lick its wounds, etc, but she'll only do that if the critter will let her. She's aware that she might just get herself attacked again but she awnts to take the chance - she just did someone a lot of damage, albeit completely by accident - she was hoping to just deal a minor wound to demonstrate that she was capable of defending herself. As for retconning a change, heh, what's done is done - neither Ameena nor I knew how few hp this critter had, so it would be metagaming somewhat to have her changing her mind and deciding to just bonk it on the nose or something .
Oh, and in case Diplomacy is needed for the "I'm really sorry and I just want to help you if you'll stop trying to bite me for one moment so I can come and stand with you" thing...24 (17+7) .

[beowuuf]

You attack bonus is currently made up of three things - your base attack bonus from your class, which is +3, your ability score bonus - +0 for strength in melee, and +3 from dexterity if you use finesse in melee, or if you throw/shoot, plus you get a +1 bonus for being ickle. So you actually have +4 in melee rolls, and +7 in finesse/ranged rolls. You just get +0 on all damage rolls cause of your average strength

The rat staggers back at first, wary. Ameena's movements seem to molify it a little, or perhaps it is so intimidated that it doesn't feel it can escape.

Fearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfear is the basic repetative tone of the squeaking, followed by painpainpainpainpainpainpainpain

The rat actually freezes when Ameena comes closer, as if terrified. Indeed, it seems to be undergoing very fast micro-trembling once Ameena actually touches the rat.

Still, it does let Ameena lick it....or her, more rightly, and the rat also seems to slink in a submissive stance behind Ameena once Ameena finishes, as if awaiting Ameena to lead it somewhere.

Glad you rolled well for the second diplomacy, you guys are no sufficiently deep in the dungeon and game that it will get harder. Even a good roll, at the wrong time or against too high a DC, won't help you. The first roll was just too much to try for in combat I'm afraid - see the diplomacy skill. You take a -10 if you are trying to fast talk as a standard action, and since it wasn't a mutually engaged debate it wasn't opposed rolls, it was a fixed DC. DC20 (technically 30 with the -10 on your roll) to make it pause and just be 'unfriendly', and 'DC35' for actually making it stop to chat as indifferent.

Hence why the best I could give you for the DC25 pass was that it assumd you weren't an actual threat and decided it didn't need to attack you, it could just drag you around

Now you've all but killed it...sorry, her, the react is a little different. Perhaps you can guess how Ameena might need to act to get more rats - especially the bigger ones - on side.

Still, the fuzzle won't wanna announce itself and can only move half speed, and Ameena gets like 5d6 extra damage from sneak attacks if she's being sneaky, so perhaps being subtle is called for.

Although I would love it if Ameena managed to create a fuzzle army and lead it aroudn the dungeon I dunno if shes got the nasty temperament - or could even fake it - well enough to get big mean pain rats on side though.

Still be funny.

Also, the light level will be slowly dropping - Say 10 foot bright radius, and 10 foot dim radius.

Oh, this isn't the OOC thread...oops...

[Ameena]

OOC - Lol. The thought of Ameena with an army of Giant Rats...nah, she knows how aggressive they are (and if she didn't before, she bloody well does now ). She wouldn't want to be running around with a bunch of critters that would probably just attack her friends on sight should she find them. And yes, it does seem that Ameena may have found the approach for dealing with these guys...they seem to behave rather more like dogs than rats so far, but then, they are large and aggressive beings created or altered by Chaos, so I suppose any variation/combination of personality traits is possible .
Oh and regarding combat, I completely forgot about the Base Attack Bonus thing - think that's a DnD v3.5 thing though since in v4 I think you use the attack bonus of the wep plus your Str/Dex bonus.

BIC - Ameena still isn't sure whether the rat-creature can understand her speech, or to what extent, but she's glad to have at least apparently made an impression. She's just sorry that she did so in quite this way - she'd never have make that strike if she'd known the creature was going to pounce at that time. She licks the creature's wound as best she can, though it doesn't taste very nice, then is surprised when she (the craeture) moves behind her (Ameena) as though wanting to be led. Odd behaviour for a ratlike creature to be acting so...submissively. Maybe these rats are even more different to surface rats than she'd thought, aggression aside.
"I'm not sure how much you understand of my language," says Ameena softly, "but I just want to get out of here. I'll help you to your people, or something. My name is Ameena. What should I call you?"
She adds a few peaceful squeaks to try and show that she's just trying to be conversational, still somewhat apologetic about the wound the rat-creature has received. She wonders whether she can bind it with the string in her pouch, but isn't sure the rat-creature will allow her to do so and doesn't want to risk making the injury worse by cutting off the blood supply for too long or in the wrong way.
She sniffs around while she waits for the creature to answer her. She has nothing she can do about her own injuries, so cleans them up as best she can by licking them. She doesn't much like the taste of blood but she tries not to consume any as she cleans herself up. A proper groom will have to wait till later. As will food and drink. And sleep. She wonders what the chances are of these rat-creatures allowing a stranger to join them in their sleep-pile. That is, if these creatures have sleep-piles. They might sleep alone. Or not at all. Or something.
She wonders where she should go. If she had something which smelt strongly of one of her friends, maybe she could offer it to this rat-creature to smell and see whether she knows where to find them. She hasn't really had a good sniff of the items in her pouches, now she thinks of it - maybe one of the items does carry the scent of one of the others - she certainly can't remember where she got these items from, and the flask she carries is useless to her - it's the kind of thing Westian would carry. Unless it contained a potion which she's already drunk at some point. Or something. One of those healing potions would be great right now - she could give it to the rat-creature and perhaps doing so would make her feel a bit better about accidentally causing the injury in the first place.
She returns her attention to the rat-creature, wondering whether she has a name. Well, Ameena has asked - maybe this one will answer. Or maybe not. She hopes that the creature can help show her perhaps the layout of this place, but doesn't want the rat-creature to risk herself with such a bad injury. Ameena's forelegs are both in pain, so she knows she'd have to walk upright to stand any real chance of relieving herself of it. Maybe she should. She wonders if there's any particular direction in which the rat-creature wants to go.

OOC - Ameena's sort of looking at the ratty to see whether she has any preference of direction. She (Ameena) won't know about the nearby illusionary wall you mentioned, will she, I don't think, 'cause the ratty-beasty never actually dragged her through it.

[beowuuf]

Actually, they've done away with base attack bonuses and save progressions and sklill point additions for the easier 'add half your level'. So you still should be increasing what you add to the die by that, and your ability modifier. There's usually no weapon modifier unless it's magical or you have a feat with it, just like 3.5

Feel free to make a heal check (I think just a raw wisdom check for you, DC15, to work out if you can do something with say a pouch and some string to bind the wound a little.

The rat will probably be oriented towards the wall, or certainly have her back to the way you two both came. Now the violence has passed, Ameena might hear more scampering coming from the direction of the wall (eventually) and perhaps even some aggressive snarls. And...some other type of movements, and the very rare, faint sound of...well, of a very deep throated roar.

Ameena, since she spotted the previous wall looked a little odd, and will have the audio clues, will notice the illusionary wall. Still roll me a perception - this will indicate how long it takes to notice it given the direction of sound, etc.

[Ameena]

OOC Perception check = wheee 29 (20+9) . Ameena is waiting for the ratty to respond - I didn't plan on all that waffly stuff that came after she spoke, it just kind of got a bit more elongated than I'd intended once I started typing (but hey, that's what usually happens with me anyway ).

[beowuuf]

The rat creature has oriented itself as if to go through the wall, which with that level of perception check Ameena will spot right away. So that's kinda the answer.

Ratratratratratratlonglonglonglonglongpainhurtpainhurtpainhurtpainhurtkillkillkillkill squeaks the little rat in a sing-song, not really focusing on Ameena but beyond her.

Ameena spots right away, even in the dwindling light, the same too similar patterns of the bricks on the wall. She can even smell new smells and hear things coming through the wall - it must be another fake one, going back to the area she had just escaped.

There was certainly the sound of shuffling feet - like multiple rats moving somewhere relatively close. Although they sounded larger than her companion. There seems to be occasional distant snarls too, like the rats were doing somethign aggressive.

There there was the low sound of something else. An odd skufflign that didn't sound...right. Like something being dragged? And then, every once in a while, there was a really deep roar. Occasionally, it was followed by a very strange sounding squeal.

Still, all those sounds sounded as if they were coming from the wall but to the left, a distance away. She couldnt't really smell anything right through the wall, and nothing sounded so close. Dare she walk throug hthe wall to check?

[Ameena]

Ameena wonders what she should call this creature - that question wasn't answered and Ameena isn't sure if it was even understood. She points to herself and speaks her name once, then gestures toward the other creature to see if there will be a response.
Meanwhile, she also wonders if more of these rat-creatures are involved in a fight somewhere. She wonders what she should do about that. For now, though, she decides to go with what her...companion?...wants to do and pass through the nearest wall. But since the rat-creature still seems to be standing as though wanting to follow her, Ameena backs up so she's once again standing beside the other, on the rat-creature's left side where the injury is. She remains on all-fours, wincing through the pain but wanting to make a point that she's trying to treat this creature as murafu treat each other - as equals.
She raises a paw and half-steps forward, turning her head to look at the rat-creature beside her and gesture for the creature to walk alongside her, through the wall.

[beowuuf]

The rat bobs its head once or twice to look at the area Ameena points to, then looks to the same area on itself and licks it once or twice.

Nomeanhurtnomeanmeannohurt it says, shaking its head. It then gives a lick to its wound on its shoulder. Yesmeanhurtmeanyeshurtkillkillkill

The rat moves sideways and stiffens as Ameena approaches. It seems to get the idea, and slowly raises its paw aswell, obviously ready to walk forwards too.

Gokillgopaingogogopainkillkillkill it says in what, for rodents, might be a happy tone. However, there is a distressed squeak as it starts moving. Slowgohurtgoslowslowkillkillkill It moves slower and gingerly, moving alongside Ameena.

[Ameena]

Ameena is fairly sure she understands the rat-creature's intentions, though she isn't quite sure she agrees with them if her interpretations are indeed correct - it seems the rat-creature is willing to accompany her and assumes they are heading off to kill someone Or something. Or somethings. Maybe this rat-creature wants to join in with what sounds like a fairly fierce battle somewhere in this area. Ameena isn't entirely sure.
The part Ameena is more certain of is that this creature is very badly hurt and can only move slowly let the wound in her shoulder become worse. Ameena still feels bad about that but knows there's nothing she can do at the moment. At least, nothing she can think of. She hopes they'll find some way to heal the rat-creature, since she isn't entirely sure that an encounter with others of this species will be a good idea. Especially not based on her memories. Still, despite an apparent desire to do not much else besides killing, maybe this one will speak up for her and the others will let her pass unharmed. Then again, she's hurt one of their people, albeit accidentally - they might not let that go unpunished.
Of all the ways Ameena has so far encountered by which is it possible for someone to die, she decides that being torn apart by members of a species apparently related to hers (however distantly) isn't really one she'd want to experience, or would ever have expected.
She moves with the rat-creature through the wall, keeping close and making what among the rats she knows would be soft and comforting noises. She instinctively closes her eyes as the wall looms large before her, but feels nothing as she and her companion pass through. She again wonders what she should call this one, but has realised by now that she doesn't have enough of a grasp on their language to work out how to ask "What is your name?", nor would she most likely be able to understand the answer.
"I'd like to call you "friend"," she says, "but I'm not really sure that would be accurate."
She glances across at the rat-creature.
"I'd like it to be, though."
Meanwhile she looks around in the fading light to see what she can see of this new area they've stepped into.

OOC - Perception check, naturally...22 (13+9) .

[beowuuf]

Ameena's companion seems to take up the noises Ameena makes, echoing them as Ameena makes them - althoguh she then intersperces them with pain and hurt noises, and the noise Ameena associates with kill. It is quite disconcerting, especially when Ameena's gentle and hopefully upbeat tone is echoed.

As Ameena rounds the bend of the wall, the sounds of some form of battle become clearer - if that is what it is. Certainly, unpleasant organic smells she is starting to associate with the blood and ichor of the creatures around. Although, for the moment, she is hard pressed to recall exactly any of those creatures perfectly, and worse yet she feels an odd reluctance in her head to remember the most recent scent - though for some reason she recalls the back of her head and the mysterious bite.

Still, the furious squeaks and snarls of the pain rats is obvious, and is obviously comign from the left, and perhaps in a way from distantly forward too.

However, even as the glow around Ameena reduces even more, until she is in just dim light around herself, Ameena can also see that there is some form of tunnel going to the right just up the way. From there, she can see a very, very dim glow. Very dim, like that of a far away torch.

And just as bad, she can smell the faint tang in the air of something she does recall well. Metal. Like metal armour.


Dun dun dun! Well, not really, but you can guess where you are now if you check the map in the OOC thread. Anyway, Ameena has about the same vague knowledge as you really, so I'm not worried too much about you metagaming here the existance of soldiers up the stairs, versus...something....going to the left.

While your perception roll was good, it was not good enough for...something.... even if I gave you a +2 bonus for...no reason....

Hehehehhehehee.

Probably bets I didn't set a preceident for that anyway.

Anyway, your move!

[Ameena]

OOC - Heh, clever...if it's what I'm thinking. Perhaps Seeroc was referencing another type of "evil squeaking demon" or whatever he called it. I'm guessing it's Rats vs. Spiders over to the left (I'm guessing northwest on the map, assuming Ameena is in the southeast corner right now), and metal-smell down the corridor to the right which is where the stairs are (though I imagine Ameena can't make out the stairs from that angle and the lack of light). Will I need to do some kind of Will save or something to see what Ameena remembers about the armour-smell?

BIC - Ameena decides she would rather avoid the sounds of combat. She needs to do something to help this rat-creature but isn't quite sure what. She decides it would be safer, at least for now, to explore the metal-smell - at least if whatever's making it is something lacking the ability to see in the dark (something she guesses from the apparent use of torch-light emanating from around that corner), she should be much more able to investigate without being discovered. Yes, that seems a good idea - once this strange light around herself has fully diminished, she should be free to get a good look at whoever's there while they'll be clueless - their own light will illuminate them while she can lurk safely in the darkness beyond. Then she can spend a few relatively safe moments sniffing the air and recalling as much as she can about...whoever's there.
She just hopes that her companion will know to keep quiet.
She slowly edges forward, sniffing carefully and trying not to make any sound - she doesn't know exactly what's there and doesn't want to risk discovery. Not with her companion so wounded. She tries to convey through body language that the two of them must make as little noise as possible.

OOC - Okay, first, Stealth check = 22 (9+13). Then, Perception = 29 (20+9 ). In case it's needed, a Will Save = 21 (19+2). although I'm guessing it won't be if Ameena is just recalling from her "future" memories rather than trying to make a mental grab for the almost-forgotten "recent" (ie game-time) memories.
Some stuff I would like to know...
At the most basic, since the metal-smell is familiar, it should at least put her in mind of an emotion or some vague kind of context, so which comes to mind? Fear? Running away? Fighting? Friendship? That kind of thing.
If the smell is that which would be associated with the soldiers (that is, the organisation to which Drommal, Brohur, and all that lot belong), what would she remember about them from the "future" memories, since those are the ones she's sort of elected to stick with (mainly because they were the first thing that came to mind at the time but anyway )? Would she only remember that they were unpleasant and always picked a fight, or might she have some better memories of them? Even if she remembers nothing specific, basically what I'm asking is would her memories make her want to stay hidden or would she consider that just stepping forward and saying "hi" would be a safe action?
Another one for if the smell is that which she associates with the soldiers, I'm guessing that in future-world the group encountered the soldiers and, like in recent-world, they carried health potions around with them. If so, would Ameena remember this? It's sort of important to her current situation, you see .
Hopefully that Perception check is enough that she'd spot any other weird scents or whatever too. I suppose she's not really too close to where the rest of the group are right now but I'm hoping that if she even picks up the faintest whiff of Haynuus, Falkor, or Westian, such a thing would (figuratively ) jump straight out at her since those are not only scents that she'd know extremely well, but ones that she's ultimately looking to find right now. Likewise if there are any other scents she would have come to recognise quickly (ie ones she smelt often or would associate with a particularly strong memory, such as that of some horrendously terrifying creature that she wouldn't forget in a hurry), I would hope she'd at least get a strong emotive reaction out of it even if she can't quite place it. I'm guessing that the scent of Farel might not be one she can fully place straight away since the group weren't with him for long (or rather, he wasn't with the group for long ), but at least she'd get an emotive sense of "Smell...can't quite place it...human...something...can't remember...but Good Smell anyway. Friend?" or something like that.
Anyway, oops, yes, IC thread, I know...and it's getting toward the direction of 1am so I'd better finish up anyway .

[beowuuf]

Lol, I'm probably not as clever as you think I am... the squeaking demons probably are ratties. Maybe you guys will never see what the 'something worse' is

Since both memories feature soldiers, no real will save needed there... and since the smell is not spiders, no inconvenient Helm will save there either. Just the general chaos critter-ichor smell idea is what I was going for...


Ameena moved as quietly as possible. Either her companion realised the need for silence, or the pain rat was cowed by the sounds of violence as they became more apparent.

For a moment, as Ameena made towards the stairs, the pain rat stiffened and stopped. However, with a smuff snuffling squeak barely heared, she started moving forward again in the same direction.

Ameena realised her glow was all but gone now, which was fine as being seen by anything she herself couldn't see was certainly not a great idea.

The dull glow, as Ameena got close, she saw was actually coming from a stairwell at the end of a short corridor. Barely visible on the wall was some writing. There was an odd stirring, as if she should know what it said because someone like Westian had read it out. Something about snakes?

Yes, she recalled Westian's voice mentioning snakes...and later, she recalled a flash of purple. The words of the rat earlier - mentioning 'hurt' and 'long' - made Ameena flash to an imagage of a huge long serpent - or 'worm' as someone had said. That was the smell Ameena could smell, as well as the rats. And that was the lower roar. She recalled her companions being surprised at the size. Huge coils twisting aroudn the corridor, and for some reason her and her companions being trapped in the same area.

Certainly, the smell of metal seemd the better direction. Ameena recognised that black-armoured soldiers were upstairs, probably with a torch or two. They were not pleasant, and had attacked on sight most of the time (OOC: two weeks on, the soldiers were a lot less diplomatic in their dealings with intruders!. Ameena also recalled though, that she had usually been able to sneak around them if she had ben cautious. And most importantly, she recalled they regularly carried potions with them.

Ameena doubted she could get away with stealing one completely unnoticed, but she was confident she could probably steal one and only get noticed upon taking it. She knew she was faster than those encaced in armour, and she knew there were never that many of them gathered. She dimly recalled them always mentioned being 'spread thin', and only a few at a time being encountered.

Ameena knew that the soldiers were human, and that while Westian seemed to be able to see things that others couldn't, the soldiers could only see things well lit. She could probably sneak up most of the stairs to get a better look at them, and as long as her companion and herself remained quiet, they could observe the soldiers unnoticed.

Hopefully.

Sorry, trying to sneak in an update over lunch. Let me know if I've forgotten anything.

[Ameena]

OOC - Ahh, Wormies, is it? Okay then, hehe. Well, hopefully Ameena wont be going near them, then . I had thought the squeaking was from rats vs. spiders because of your reference to the sounds causing Ameena to think of the bite on the back of her neck.

BIC - Ameena edges forward, sniffing cautiously. It doesn't seem that she's likely to be too close to one of the soldiers yet - they must be some way away up the stairs. She mentally goes through the things she knows about them. Her previous encounters with them have shown that they're aggressive, so would probably attack her on sight. They're human, so they can't see in the dark and must wield torches, which gives Ameena an edge in that she'll be able to see them before they see her, plus she has the advantage of smell and whisker-touch. They're loud, encased in that metal armour they seem to like wearing so much, and also therefore tend to move somewhat slower than she does, which will make them easier to dodge and avoid if they do happen to detect her. They carry healing potions, which is the main reason Ameena wants to get nearer to them right now. Well, that and the fact that she doesn't particularly want to get any closer to what sounds like a nasty fight between the aggressive-seeming rat-creatures and the equally aggressive worm-creatures. Worms. Ameena doesn't recall ever seeing any worm like that before. Not that large. And not with teeth!
The thought of a regular, small, wriggly, ground-burrowing worm causes Ameena to remember how hungry she is. And thirsty. And tired. But she pushes these thoughts aside once again, and hopes they won't distract her.
Now, meanwhile she'd better try to sneak up these stairs. But what about the rat-creature who's with her? Could she be convinced to wait behind? Ameena thinks this over. If the rat-creature comes with her and the two of them are detected by the soldiers...no, Ameena doesn't want that to happen.
She stops at the bottom of the stairs and turns to face the rat-creature, standing between her and the stairs. She makes some rattish sounds to the tone of "Bad people up stairs. They have help for you. I go take help, bring it to here. Magic water. Makes pain go away."
She gestures with a paw toward the wound on the rat-creature's shoulder as she squeaks and snuffles her way through this last part, hoping to emphasise the point. Then she continues, her rough message, she hopes, going something like "Bad men want kill. Bed men see you, they kill. You hurt, can't hide. I go up, can run faster. They see me, I call loud - you go hide through wall, where we came from. Then they not find - I hide, try again. I not show them you. If I get magic water, I bring down, make you not pain. Then you safe. Yes? Understand, yes?", and hopes that she is indeed understood. She doesn't want her companion to risk death at the hands of these soldiers. Hopefully Ameena will be able to bring back a healing potion and give it to this rat-creature. Then, perhaps, she'll be able to set about trying to find her friends - maybe this one can help her do so, once she can walk properly again. Ameena wonders whether she'll be able to acquire another healing potion, for herself - her forelegs are still injured and bleeding, and pain shoots through them with every step.

OOC - Incidentally, how long has it been since Ameena last slept? I imagine that even if it hadn't been too long yet, she'd probably be feeling knackered from all the near-death encounters she's had, not to mention the whole being-thrown-through-time thing, which I'm sure would be rather exhausting mentally even if her body didn't actually go through it . I seem to recall that four hours was roughly how long a murafu would stay awake for, before sleeping for about an hour. Obviously, situations involving more exertion or stress would affect that figure somewhat, I'm sure .

[beowuuf]

It hasn't been that long since her last sleep - probably only an hour and a half game time! I also thought it was more like 4 hours awake two hours down? That would equate to humans 16 hours to 8 in a day better.

Ameena's companion shuffled back a little, although exactly how much of what Ameena tried to say - even in basic speech - was hard to know. It seems to turn its head a little, as if hurt by the rebuke in a way.

Hurtnomeanhurtnomeanhurtnomean it seemed to wuffle. Quietquietqueitquietquiet.

Whether it understood or not, for the moment the pain rat was staying where it was, and not trying to follow Ameena.

[Ameena]

Ameena nods and gives generally encouraging body language. She adds a few more rat-noises - "Yes, good, stay. I will get magic water. Bring to you. Help you. Good. Stay here. Good.", then turns her attention to the stairs.
She slowly moves forward, edging her way up as quietly as she can, sniffing and listening intently in order to gain as much information as she can about the humans up above. She also, for now, keeps half an ear on the rat-creature behind her, to make sure she doesn't try to follow her.

OOC - So, couple of fairly obvious rolls, given the circumstances. Perception = 23 (14+9), and Stealth = 18 (5+13).

[beowuuf]

Ameena manages to stay quiet and level, slowly working her way up. She can spot, eventually, the tops of armoured heads. Luckily for her, for some reason they are all biased to looking away from the stairwell and staying that way, a held torch very obviously pointed in the opposite direction. They seem to be in a dismal large room. There seem to be the suggestion of some ways out behind the soldiers.

Coming a little higher, Ameena can see three soldiers, two in the plain bacl armour of the soldiers, with the suggestion of skulls on the joints. The thirs one, standing in the middle, has armour with more obvious raised faces on it - silently screaming faces. Ameena dimly recalls that while the soldiers are generally bad, the ones with the screaming faces on their armour are worse.

The soldiers are about 15 feet away. Ameena can smell more metal coming from the right. There seems to be a passage to her right aswell. Also coming that way is a warmer smell - it reminds her of the food humanoid have in taverns, when they cook the meat of animals to eat. For some reason the smell makes her uneasy.

However, there also seems to be something else - more pleasant, and just as familair - wafting in the air too from that direction. What could it be? And dare she investigate with so many soldiers around?

[Ameena]

Ameena wonders what she should do. Several soldiers here - they might detect her. And one of them has the skull-marks on his armour. One of the ones who orders the others around, she recalls. More aggressive, she remembers. More likely to attack. Less likely to speak.
Sniffing the air, she wonders about the smell. The cooking smell. They have food down here? Meat, perhaps? She wonders where they would get it - they must have been down in this place quite a long time now - meat doesn't last that long before it starts to smell...unpleasant. So where would they...
Oh. Of course. Suddenly Ameena feels even more strongly that being discovered is a Very Bad Thing.
But what about that other smell? Familiar? Yes...she thinks so, anyway. But she'd probably need to get a bit closer to the source to find out - with these soldiers and their...food...partially blocking the air, she can't get a clear whiff of whatever it is. But she hopes it's something good. Maybe one of her friends passed this way - maybe they weren't thrown too far apart after all. She hopes.
She sits still and watches the soldiers for a little while, to see what they'll do - are they just standing here, guarding? Will they move around? Are they going to start talking about anything that might interest her? Maybe they have some kind of patrol going - they might move from this spot soon to go somewhere else, in which case she can wait till they've gone and then investigate the area. If they start to move toward her, she'll have plenty of time to retreat back down the stairs before their torchlight reaches her.

OOC - So, Ameena temporarily parked at the top of the stairs - probably just her head or foresection actually on the floor (ie not the stairs), so that she's more or less just sort of peeking round the corner, in case the guards decide to turn her way. Of course, they might just continue to stand there and be boring and do nothing, in which case she'll have to think of something else. Another incidence in which a Ring of Time would be useful. Omg i've got to get her one of those, lol - something I never bother with in actual DM, but it would be bloody fantastic here. I don't even know how many charges they normally have. Hehehe.

[beowuuf]

Three charges!

The soldiers stand, still looking in their two directions.

"How long will they be?" finally asks one.

"As long as they need to," says the central one, not looking sideways at whichever talked. "Be silent and vigilent unless you want to be the next runner."

"And be like Yall?" the soldier on the left turns to look at the one in the centre. The soldier then looks back ahead. "I know my place."

"That place is where the Captain tells you it is. Pray it is not sent downstairs to be trapped with the Worm. You have a long way before you gain your souls, Kyl."

There is a shudder from the one in the left, and the soldiers all then remain silent.

They aren't going anywhere. Then again, they aren't going backwards either. Oh, and sorry, I said 15 feet, I meant 20 feet. I was thinking edge of the torchlight, and for some reason I was thinking 30 foot diameter like old D&D, but it's actually 40 feet these days! So Ameena would need to stay right up against the wall, but would just be in dim light (therefore have concealment) unless one of the soldiers actually turned and lifted their torch in her direction

[Ameena]

Ameena wonders what she should do. The soldiers probably have teir magic healing potions on them somewhere, and likely inside their clothing where she won't be able to grab one. She contemplates going off to the right, but isn't sure whether that would be a good idea - she can detect the scent of at least one other guard that way, and doesn't want to risk being caught between that one and the ones she's currently watching.
Then again, standing here isn't doing her much good. She wonders about the soldier's comment regarding souls, and wonders if that has anything to do with the armour they wear - maybe the faces are some kind of representation of the fact that these people have souls inside their armour. Souls...what some people call spirits, the part of a person that lies within their body and is their very essence, containing their raw being and primal emotions. Or at least, so believe the Murafu. She knows that others probably have their own views. How would someone trap a soul inside armour? Well, she supposes, there is a lot about magic she doesn't know. She supposes that anything is possible, if you possess both the knowledge and the means to achieve it.
Meanwhile, these thoughts aren't much help with her current situation. Well, she decides, maybe these guards will stay put for a while. Even if one of them does turn and spot her, there look to be several directions she can run even if she can't get back the way she came.
Then she has another thought - if she can't get a healing potion, maybe she can get something else - it smells like they have some kind of...camp...around the corner. Maybe they have supplies there, things that, while not magical, might still help bind a wound. Or something.
Well, only one way to find out.
With as much stealth as she can muster, Ameena emerges slowly from the stairway and, keeping as close to the right-hand wall as she can, moves along as quickly as she can without making a noise. As before, she keeps fully alert for any sign of...anything, particularly any indication that the nearby guards might be about to turn in her direction.

OOC - In case new rolls are necessary, Perception = 24 (15+9), and Stealth = 31 (18+13) .

[beowuuf]

Ameena knows they keep their healing potios in a pouch outside their normal clothing. I said Ameena would know that earlier, didn't I?

And with a Stealth roll like that, you can be assured nio one spots the murafu. Anyway, getting tired, will put off update until tomorrow. Sorry!

[Ameena]

OOC - To quote yourself, all you said was "And most importantly, she recalled they regularly carried potions with them.", so yes you said they carried potions, but you didn't specify how/where . As for the Stealth roll, yes I was quite chuffed with that . Then again, it's probably pretty difficult to get a crap roll with it. I mean, even if I only roll a 1 that's still a score of 14 .

[beowuuf]

Bum, ok well they carry them outside and she'll remember that

Ameena managed to stay in the shadows, as if she attracterd them with her cloak. Perhaps she did? Afetr all, she had glowed before, maybe now she anti-glowed?

She was able to keep those soldiers behind her in her attention, while looking very cautiously aroudn the corner. It appeared there were three more soldiers! Luckily,, one was down a new corridor with his back to her. Meanwhile, two were just up ahead in the doorway of a small room, with the door open (Or actually gone, but it was probably retracted into the roof)

The two soldiers facing each other in the doorway were speaking, luckily only partially illuminated to each other by some fire inside the room. The soldier on guard in the new corridor had a torch, but one more it was held forward and he was not turning around.

Ameena was quite confident she was current;y in a perfect meeting of shadows and hidden from human eyes.

The stwo soldiers were speaking gruffly about some form of run, and about tiredness. One of the soldiers seemed to be berating the other for his short temper, telling him that he would have his soul taken instead of receiving more if he carried on. While it sounded conversational, there was also an odd not of warning in the voice.

However, Ameena was distracted from this, as two things struck her. Well, perhaps three - she could now well smell that the cooking meat smell was coming from the small room, and could see some odd cooked meat in a soldier's hand. It smelled more and more familiar yet alien, an odd mix. She seemed to recall, dimly, Haynuus trying ot cook one of the stranger creatures of Lord Chaos to eat, and a smell just like that.

The memory lead perfectly to the two things that struck her. The memory of Haynuus giving her odd things to eat perfectly came to her. This very room! She just recognised the lay-out now! She had been here with the others, sharing the last of their screamer slices. There was a fountain in the room, and they had found a brief period to rest and relax after their many trials.

And so recalling that moment, of speaking with Westian and Falkor while tryign to not watch Haynuus eat screamer slice and speak, she perfectly worked out what the familiar scent was fighting against the cooked meet smell.

It was her friends!

She could smell they had travelled here recently, the smell was strong. Very strong. There was something else, but the cooking smell overpowered that. She needed to get away from it to let her nose properly work. Still, her friends were close! Although there was an irritating soldier with his back to her in the way, and worse yet she still had her injured companion. OCC: Heh, sorry, 23 doens't buy you a gnome until you are out of the direct wafting of the meat!

[Ameena]

OOC - Heh fair enough, I'm sure there are plenty of other scents in the way right now that mean she won't notice the addition of a gnomish scent to the mix, particularly since I'm guessing she never really got close enough to Seeroc before to pick up his personal scent to any great degree. It was a 24 I rolled btw, not a 23 so I take that to be a typo on your part . Anyway, Ameena has enough to worry about now with finding a health potion for the ratty-critter before she moves on. Heh, trouble with murafu - they don't tend to change their minds once they've agreed to do something, especially if it involves helping someone who's hurt, friend or not .
As for the health potion thing, what do you mean by "carry them outside"? You mean, in some kind of belt-pouch or something that she might be able to yoink it from? Well, I suppose the guard would have to be sitting down for her to comfortably manage that - otherwise I'm not sure she'd be able to reach too well.

BIC - Ameena perks up excitedly when she recognises the scent, but keeps her reaction entirely internal - given her current situation, making any kind of noise or movement might just attract the attention of one of the nearby human soldiers. But it's alright - she's used to keeping quiet and still, hiding from hostile eyes. But now what should she do? She knows these people carry healing potions - she just has to find one now. Find it, take it, get back to the rat-creature, then...what? She should come back here and look for her friends, of course, but what about the rat-creature? Well, maybe she's better off down there with her own people, where she knows what's what. Ameena hopes so, anyway - this place seems far too dangerous otherwise, what with all these human soldiers standing about.
She turns her attention to the humans up ahead. It seems they're not too happy about having to stand on guard duty. Or at least, one of them is. She doesn't much like this talk of souls, as though they're something to be freely taken out of a living being and...used...somehow. She decides from experience that these guards aren't likely to be going anywhere soon - they're guarding, after all. So it's unlikely that they'll all decide to go to sleep at the same time as well. There might even be more of them in the room she can see, sleeping while their fellows take their turn at standing watch. She wonders what they're standing watch for, since it seems they're not overly concerned about creatures emerging from the stairs as she has just done - otherwise they'd surely have been looking in her direction when she came up. Maybe they've been here a long while, during which nothing much has happened and now they're bored.
All of which is all well and good, but how can she get past them? Maybe they have some healing potions stored in the room beyond? It would certainly be reasonable to guess that they possibly have some kind of supplies stored there - food for the watch, maybe things to sleep on, an obvious fire as she can see from the glow. Maybe they have some other supplies too. Water, perhaps, in case they have to leave here? She hopes the fountain is still running - strange things seem to happen here, nothing staying the same for long.
So, then, how to get past these guards? She tries to see what she can recall about the layout of this area, to see whether she might be able to possibly...distract them, somehow, into running off after something that isn't even there, while she sneaks through into their room, hopefully, and makes off with something useful.
But then, surely if these people stopped guarding in order to run after strange noises in the distance, they wouldn't be very good guards, would they? No, they wouldn't be quite that gullible, she decides. Besides, there isn't really anywhere she can go apart from back down the stairs - the soldiers are blocking every other route.
What, then? Step forth and reveal herself? No, she isn't quite that desperate - especially considering the kind of meat those guards are most likely eating. She supposes that any kind of ratlike creature, even one wearing a cloak and pouch-belt and speaking to them in their own language, is likely to incite the same kind of reaction as any other kind of ratlike creature down here. At least, from these people. Does she want to take the chance?
Maybe, she ponders, she can lead these guards down the stairs. Maybe they'll be distracted by the sounds of the fighting creatures, the wormish ones. Maybe she can go back down there first, get her rattish companion to hide beyond the not-wall, then come back and make sounds for the soldiers to follow.
If there was only one of these humans, this would be so much easier.
Despite all these thoughts, Ameena decides that she will just sit still, just a few moments longer, to see if anything comes to mind. Maybe one of these soldiers will decide to leave, or something...

OOC - Heh, sorry, a bit long rambling post in which nothing actually happens...or in other words, me trying to go through every possible thing Ameena could do right now and ending up remaining at a point of indecision .

[beowuuf]

Indeed, they have a pouch on their belt. I guess for a 20+ perception check I'll let Ameena recall, when she sees the soliders, the odd fact that they tend to not wear backpacks nor have much in the way of items when they travel aroudn the dungeon, apparently relying on certain areas to eat or restock torches, etc.

And I'm sure, if needs must, Ameena can jump up and grab an item with her teeth. As I said, in these circumstances, I imagien Ameena has a good chance of getting right up to a soldier undetected, but I imagien she doens't have the best of chances to take something completely undetected given the alert status they are on. Still, they have to react to the pickpocket and look around, whereas Ameena can be on her front paws and moving off swiftly. Depends if Ameena thinks she can get to a place where the soldiers wouldn't want to go, or just goes right for outrunning them

Heh, trouble with murafu - they don't tend to change their minds once they've agreed to do something, especially if it involves helping someone who's hurt, friend or not

Heh, though Ameena has at least once talked herself out of that - when Helm was first injured in the soldier fight and fled through the door, Ameena talked herself into him being dead or being helped by the rest of the group, so wouldn't go back through the teleporter!

Anyway, instead of cause more delay by asking for a knowledge or will roll, I'll just let Ameena recall a few thigns abotu the area... otherwise I might get another Seinfeld like post :p


Ameena recalled only dimly where everyone went. She recalled there were two passageways that the soldiers must be looking at back besides the stairs. And that the cirridor where the familiar smell was coming from...didn't it go up and downstairs? Something bad was stirring in her mind about downstairs. Upstairs, she seem to recall was the reason the party had been glad of the rest. Trolins and skeletons and a huge area where a crowd had yelled at them...

Hmm, would the soliders be worried because of the Trolins? Wasn't there something to do with Trolins upstairs?

Ameena's few moments of thinking are suddenly interrupted by a scent of rat in her nose. It's familiar, and by the time she reacts to it, there is a soft feeling at the back of her legs. Luckily, her newest companion seems to be able to move silently enough, and has yet to be spotted.


I'm glad that stealth roll worked out that way! Funnier to have her coming up and sudden';y appearing, instead of coming up and getting spotted instantly. She's only got a DC20 success, so it's 50/50 Ameena would have spotted her. I split the different and let Ameena be distracted enough to only notice when it would be too late. Which, to be fair, is only like 15 feet distance.

Anyway, yeah, I'm a horrible person, but I always say the dungeon moves. Waiting for something to happen, or something to occur to Ameena means somethign will happen As it happens, I think your previous plan sounded interesting, you are pinned in. Trouble is, now you have an extra impediment to ennacting that plan...

[Ameena]

OOC - Bahh...lol. Well, maybe they can work with this. I rather hope ratty-critter doesn't find herself on the wrong end of a sword, though...
Btw, "Seinfeld"? Isn't that some American sitcom or something?

BIC - Ameena gives a slight start as she realises the rat-creature has followed her. Oh no, now what should she do?
She turns to face the rattish one, attempting to show annoyance but not doing a very good job since murafu don't tend to get angry or annoyed. Frustrated, yes. Scared, yes. But not angry. She wants to tell the rat-creature of the danger, but can't really see any way of doing so. If only they could communicate properly! Now this creature may end up getting herself killed with little Ameena can do about it. She realises that the creature probably didn't wait too long before following her, given how her (the rat-creature's) movements are hampered by the shoulder injury.
She decides that the plan she came up with is probably the closest she'll get to something workable. Still, she wonders whether she might try to...acquire...one of the healing potions before retreating back down the stairs. But, first thing's first...
She starts to move past the rat-creature, emphasising as strongly as she can with body language that they must both be as quiet as possible. That the rat-creature moved so silently to get up here in the first place, though, bodes well for her apparent understanding of the danger they're both in right now.
Ameena continues to move, trying to show that she wants the rat-creature to come with her and nudging her slightly, gently, if she doesn't seem to take the hint. Slowly, Ameena moves back toward the stairs. Once the rat-creature is somewhere safer, then she'll come back here and try to retrieve a potion.

OOC - The potions-on-belt thing should make it a bit easier. Hopefully. Still, hopefully the ratty-critter will come back down the stairs and let herself be hidden away behind the illusionary wall. Then Ameena can come back up to try the dangerous stuff, and probably then I'll get a crap Stealth roll, lol, If there weren't six of these bloody soldiers standing around...if there were only two or something, then she'd probably be more willing to take a chance. But seeing as she's ever so slightly outnumbered, I imagine she's gonna be very careful about the risks. Especially considering the possibility that her friends are rather close by. Exactly how come their scent can eb so strong and yet the guards don't seem bothered she hasn't got round to thinking about yet. Well, actually, I only just thought of it myself but I can excuse Ameena because she's busy trying to save the life of the ratty-beasty .

[beowuuf]

Roll me a roll! Make it two!