Dungeon Master Forum

Here's the story post, this time with added commentary!

Aurek decided to make a move, although it was apparently a move the guard had expected. The guard moved quickly (initiative 17 I'm afraid against your 10) and threw the bowl directly at the paladin's face (standard action, attack roll 9, misses!) but the throw is a clumsy one to distract him and flew passed the paladin's face without harm. The guard then moved backwards to the door button outside, drawing his sword in the process (movement, because of +1base attack bonus of the guard he gets to draw a weapon during move). As Aurel draws close, the soldier stabs at the paladin with his weapon (attack of opportunity due to Aurek being unarmed) but Aurek nimbly dodges out of the way (guard attack roll of 11, misses). Aurek himself cannot do more than bruise his own hand though, as the guards's platemail has few weak spots (your attack roll of 13 misses).

The moment paladin had flinched to move, however, his fellow captive had moved with relish (Farel's initiative is 19!) against his own guard. The first guard had split his attention, and was caught seriously unawares by the movements of both the prisoners (initiative 2 against Farel, and perception 9 to spot Aurek's actions).

Farel had made the distance in the blink of an eye (movement action used), yet did not attack. (standard action readied with conditional for...you'll see). "Yield, you cur! I would not kill if I do not have to!" the knight said instead, perhaps following some old fashioned code. The action seemed madness, and the bewildered guard instantly acted on his training drawing his weapon (guard must still use a move action to draw his weapon if not moving).

However, it seemed that was exactly what Farel had wished. The weapon was now free to be grabbed, and with expert moves Farel did exactly that, a quick set of blows that ended with the sword in the knight's hands pointed at the guard's throat (delayed action triggered by weapon drawing, disarm attempt made bu Farel. Attack of opportunity avoided due to improved disarm feat of Farel. Farel's roll of 21 beats guard's roll of 13, Farel's unarmed attack means disarmed weapon ends up in Farel's hand).

The guard blinked for a moment at the turn of events, and decided discretion was the better part of valour, making for the switch outside aswell (standard action used for second move action to the switch).

Any questions, comments, or concerns? At the moment, Aurek will take attacks of opportunities when he attacks directly due to being unarmed. Aurek could attempt the same disarm attempt, but he has two disadvantages that Farel did not - Aurek would take an attack of opportunity that might end the disarm, and Aurek will take a -4 to his attack roll due to being unarmed.

Oddly enough, Farel was designed to be met out of captivity by the rest of the party later, and so his skillsets just happen to fit his personality and yet be very useful right now!

Note that for the moment, Aurek won't have seen what happened between the guard and Farel, though he will see the guard leave the other cell and I'll let you spot Farel standing armed.

I don't think I said I'd take the weekend off, but I was taking the weekend off!

Normal service resumes tomorrow, need Falkor and Westian's reactions and let's see what happens next, shall we....

Right, I'm happy to go along with these soldiers... just make sure you get my back if they turn nasty - will everyone else be coming along for the ride?

Well, Ameena certainly won't want to be left behind...not that she particularly trusts these guys right now. Of course, they might decide to just squish her for talking too much or something, and her opinion of them certainly won't increase much if they keep calling her a "rat" (especially after she's told them she isn't one). Then again, murafu never really hate anyone, they just have people they really really prefer to stay away from .
And while of course I'm sure we'll be happy to try and help Falkor if, as you put it, money, "they turn nasty", I'm not too sure what three barely-equipped (hey, Ameena's nude right now, apart from the belt ) people can do against a bunch of sword-wielding, armour-clad, unpleasant-looking guys with obvious apparent skill, but you know, we'll try, I'm sure . Right now, since none of us know why we're here or how we got here (unless anyone had a dream or something which hinted at such and haven't got round to telling anyone yet), for all we know we could be miles below the surface and with no hope of ever getting out ever again. Ameena's certainly had a few thoughts along those lines but she's pushed 'em out the way for now since it wont help her at all to think that way.

hey OB, if you are around, roll me diplomacy, update later tonight all!

I've not put up the dice rolls this time around, but please let me know if you have any questions, or if you wish me to go through the last round in detail like last time. Map will be up soon!

Well, that Drommal fellow, I have decided, certainly seems like a bit of a knob. Hopefully he'll get donked by something later. Twat . Anyway, murafu don't really get pissed off, so he's spared an attempted bite of his plate-covered nadgers or whatever .
There are a few rolls I want to make. Where they're being made I hope I've been clear enough in the IC description. Not all of them may be necessary, but I'll just list every roll I'd like to make, and you can decide whether it's needed or whatever . Oh, and I've got my profile up so I'll include bonuses in the total...

A general Perception check, looking around etc as they go - 16
Ooh, we don't have Spot and Listen in this one - I'm guessing you rolled those into Perception since they are 3.5 skills. Won't roll for those two then .
Sense Motive on Thinpas and Arbrut (Thinpas first, for no particular reason other than I just mentioned him first there) - bleh, 10...then woo, 26 on Arbrut.
Since I already Sense Motived on Drommal, I'm guessing doing so again wouldn't gain me anything more? Maybe I should do it again? Hey, sod it, it's only a die roll...meh, 14.

Since Drommal seems to think that Haynuus and Ameena are lower forms of life or something, Ameena's gonna keep her head down for a bit (metaphorically speaking), and see if she can decide just how stupid these guys think they are. If she can get a moment with Haynuus to talk to him, maybe they can arrange for him to act like a completely stupid doink whose vocabulary goes little further than "Duh? Muhhh....gurrr...rruh", and maybe he can learn something that way (through hearing people having conversations near him becuase htey think he's too stupid to understand, or something). I'm guessing that a half-orc's hearing is better than a human's, so if they could get close enough, I imagine that they could swap words without being heard by humans with their crappy hearing .
Although there is a mage around here somewhere, so maybe being so sneaky may not be a good idea .

Speaking of considerng other races inferior...

She knows Haynuus doesn't have her hearing...

How does she know that again? We've already established orc noses are better than human noses right from Ian's first post. Just because Haynuus does't have Ameena's scent ability, don't assume he has human-like abilities or is inferior to her in all ways. Infact, check his wisdom score. Bettr than Ameena's! So on a basic level he's more aware than Ameena of his surroundings. Her rogue training and greater intelligence meant she's honed it in certain ways, but don't make too may assumptions!

Not sure if this is an IC or OOC assumption, but just thought I'd tease you about it either way!


Edit: Oh, see you made a OOC post! Yeah, I assume Haynuus has better hearing than humans. :p

And yes, the skills spread for pure 3.5 is greater than what I've done, which is the middle ground between 3.5 and 4th ed. Spot, listen and search are now perception.

If you are still around, give me a bluff check for trying to communicate your idea to Haynuus.

Ian, I don't recall you having sense motive, so just a raw wisdom check in return please to see if Haynuus understands

She's not trying to communicate with Haynuus, not yet - hence the thought chain on it. What mde you think that? With all these smeggy guards watching, she's not gonna try communicating anything until she thinks she can do so without making it apparent. Now who's making assumptions? She's just thought about doing so, that's all - if she thinks she's got a chance, she'll try and whisper to him or something, but if she tries doing so now, with these guys watching, they're gonna know she's tying to tell him something, aren't they?
Ohh, and maybe that was a combo of me and Ameena assuming half-orc hearing doesn't quite match up to a murafu's. I was kind of thinking that, what with him being half-human, plus the inability (at least, as far as I know) to swivel his hears to orient on sound and them not being proportionately enlarged in order to do so, that would mean his hearing, while most likely better than that of a straight human (and also possibly Falkor and Westian), wouldn't match up to that of a murafu. Ratty hearing is pretty acute, you know . Two murafu could be standing a few steps away and have a whispered conversation and still be able to hear each other perfectly well, provided there wasn't too much other noise going on at the same time.
But anyway, yeah...ooh there was an IC post too I think...I came to this thread first but better check that out. If Ameena's gonna try and communicate with anyone, I'll make it clear .


Edit (to save making two posts in a row) - Wow, Ian, you did it too...
"Haynuus sees Ameena rush back to pick up her cloak, and upon her return it looks as if she is eating yet she starts squeaking and whispering in a high pitch, low volume voice. It's barely audible yet difficult to hear by humans. He bends a crooked ear towards her to see if he can understand."
Eh? Could you let me know where I said all that? I had Ameena note that she was hungry and wanted to groom herself, but at no point did she eat anything - I even had her note that she couldn't really do that stuff whilst being walked along by guards. Have you ever seen a rat eat whilst walking?
And again, where does it say I had Ameena try to say anything? I know I wrote the post last night, but I'm really quite sure I mentioned on more than one occasion that she's decided not to say anything for now, since the soldiers (or at least, Captain Drommal) seem to regard her as some kind of inferior creature, a fact she's going to try and play on by keeping her head down for a bit and trying to observe things without speaking. But because she's already spoken to them, they must know for sure that she's sentient (hence her confusion over Drommal's use of the word "pet", unless he was referring to Haynuus, since in her experience pets are never sentient, yet in speaking she's surely shown that she is). Haynuus, on the other hand, hasn't really done much more than grunt since the guards arrived, so she's hoping that maybe she can get to him at some point when they're not being watched to communicate the idea that maybe he should continue to "play dumb" and mayeb the guards will spill more to him than they would to others, on the basis that they assume he won't understand what they're saying.
So all Ameena did in that post, action-wise, was return to the altar-room and put her cloak back on, then rejoin the group and go along to the room with the pressuse plates, following along but not speaking. She hasn't even tried to make eye-contact (and doing so would be obvious, considering how she's have to crane her neck up for anyone but Falkor at this close distance ), let alone say anything. All the rest of the post was her personal thoughts, something I could cut down on I suppose (yeah, I know like most of my postings they tend to ramble on for ages about things that are probably neither relevant nor interesting), but I like to include at least some of that, as it lets me get a more proper feel for what's going through Ameena's head at the time, and I'm more likely to remember that I had her think that. Even though, of course, no-one else can see inside her head and know what she's thinking, I just tend to write these things a bit more in "story-mode" and include that sort of stuff. If I'd included all her thoughts up till now, not only would I probably have crashed the forum through sheer posting length (;)), everyone (OOC, at least) would know tons more about the murafu than they already do. Actually, there's quite a bit Wuffy know which you don't, but he's allowed 'cause he's the GM .
Anyway, maybe I should start sumarising my posts at the bottom or something, so you can just read that bit and not get bogged down in the actual post and have me doing stuff I haven't even said I've done...


And yes, I know that all makes me sound a bit annoyed, but textual communication is unfortunately somewhat notorious for being used to convey exact emotions. I'm more sort of...bemused. I suppose I'd get annoyed if you kept doing it, but in the end it is only a game. I'll PM you about it anyway, if it keeps happening .

Ahh my bad, and all in the name of Artistic licence. I can edit all of those superfluous/imagined actions out if you like? Just as long as the DM knows Ameena hasn't attempted communication then. Just let me know if you want me to remove my assumptions about Ameena's actions - I agree that they could get you into trouble Apologies

in my experience pets are never sentient

In my experience pets are sentient yet will do anything for chocolate chip cookies... Haynuus!

Sorry, I assumed when you said you'd try, you meant at this point, not a general statement of intent for the future. Basically while getting your items is the best time to have attempted, as the soldiers are split up and staying back. From now on, you will have soldiers walking by your side unless you can create a diversion or space for yourselves. The point still stands, if you want to create such space you'll need a bluff of thievery roll, and certainly a bluff roll for subtle communication (even non-verbal). Speaking quietly probably won't won't cut it, good hearing does exactly the opposite of letting you drown out noisy armour that's clanking beside you while you make soft noises! Interesting fact - the owl has silent flight because it could ruin its own exceptional hearing with the noise of it's wings otherwise!


No harm with the rest, as pointed out Ian can edit the post if you can do that for your post Ian, I can make sure it's replicated in the next update. I'll . Everyone remember Ameena doesn't like her character being steer by others. If anyone else is similarly inclined, please let me know as I will sometimes do that to push the narrative forward or communicate extra information without losing time.


The important thing is that people at least post reactions to others though. We can always retcon it back to narrative consistency later. The worst thing would be people not posting until other people have posted reposts based on clarifications, so we double the length of posting days or I have to keep moving forward and then missing people's actions. OOC place is a good place for continencies. Ameena, the summary sounds like a good idea for everyone if they do long posts since I know sometimes all of us are pressed for time. I tend to summarise the actions I require from a long post in the OOC sections, but hope I don't have to summarise the narrative itself!

So, seemed we just need OB's actions and on we go. Unless he's feeling anarchic, I guess it's onwards to the thief! Update will be this evening, I'm taking a very early lunch right now!

Sorry for the lack of posts these last view days, work has been crazy. Should quieten down now.

I rolled a 9 + 13 - 10 = 12 for diplomacy.

Will try and post IC soon, but basically Westian will pack his bags and leave. He is not the rebellious sort. Now to meet this thief....interesting to find out who are new companion is going to be!

I don't know if I get an extra attack here...

You'll only get an extra attack if you have a high base attack bonus (above +6 before other modifiers, basically at level 6 onwards), or if your opponent tries to attack you unarmed or runs away from you

So just the one attack I'm afriad, the good news is... well, you'll have to wait til I'm back from work, won't you!

Rolled a 4 + 4 = 8 for sense motive on the soldier. Other than that just chatting. Picked up my stuff, if no one else picks up the RA key Westian will take that.

Don't worry about the rushed diplomacy. I thin kthe original spirit of diplomacy was it represented a decent length of negotiations, now I think most poeple (and certainly I will make it a house rule) that a decent attempt at diplomacy triggers a normal check, and only a rushed action (like trying to call a cease-fire in the middle of combat) will count as a rushed action with the -10.

Anyway, have a few thigns to do, then will update here and let you meet the thief!

Meanwhile, I might be a bit spotty in updates, I have a friend who's down in London this weekend. So I will probably be away at least one evening, and will have him over for a couple of nights at the weekend. Hopefully I can continue normal updates, apologies in advance if I drop the ball for an evening or for the Friday update.

Oh, and don't apologise for your absense if you are still posting good posts!

And Falkor has the key, way way back he grabbed it as he foolishly believed I was going to let you all actually walk through the door after quickly solving the key puzzle. Haha!

Right, time to do some posting...

Wargh, did Haynuus just step past Ameena or something when he went to give the thief-dude a hug? She had her head practically in his lap, sniffing at the ropes around his wrists. Well, pretend she backed away or something when he came forward, then moved in again when Haynuus's attention...umm...drifted .

Your assuming you had initiative and got to sniffing first! Haynuus walks faster than you ...umm, though maybe not in a heavy breastplate! Yeah, Ameena moved backwards to avoid an amourous half-orc! That's how it all happened then.

It's more a case of Haynuus assumes he gets close enough to the thief before a sword gets levelled....

All will be revealed when I update I guess! Dun dun dun!

If we were in a combat situation, you'd be 100% right Ameena as Haynuus probably wouldn't be able to grapple the guy but time is fluid at the moment. But I'm sure we could somehow fit a hug in there between your actions (this is your fault Beo -> always tie people's wrists behind their back, and I tend to give people a hug from the front. No problemo...).

It's not that important... Just it'll make Haynuus feel a bit better... Muahhhh!

Yeah, it's too funny not to happen, basically!

OK, I rolled some checks for the thief. I rolled sense motive and perception, feel free to use either, both or neither as appropriate!

Sense motive: 10 + 4 = 14
Perception: 2 + 3 = 5

Not great, maybe if my perception roll had been higher I would have been able to tell who was the player controlling the thief!

Lol, sneaky fishing, I am saying nothing about anything to do with the new player other than I did plan to run the new player and your own group as NPCs in each other's stories for a few posts until things had clicked - it's more fun that way. Well, for me, anyway!

OOC - Couple of things. First, what's he wearing? Second, if anyone (soldiers, really) has a problem with her approaching this dude and wants to stop her, I can alter the post accordingly if they do so before she gets to him. But Drommal did say the "thief" was now in their charge, so...

The man is wearing relatively simple garb - the usual breeches and tunic. If you think there is more to spot than that, wish to spot more, roll me a perception check please Ameena! Infact, I think I need to insist!

You can certainly expect a reaction, all of you, to interracting with the thief, but I don't think any of you have stepped outside the bounds of timing or actions yet. Everything still seemes perfectly lined up for the next update...which will have to happen at some stupid hour of tomorrow morning (before or after I sleep)

and yes, I would expect nothing else except biting through the ropes!

I just wondered what he was wearing so I can get some mental image of him. Clothing is brown? White? And what about, say, hair colour, eye colour, etc. Atm all we know is he's a human male, youngish-looking. Oh, and any apparent weapons or anything? I mean, is he wearing, say, a sword on his belt or something? I'm guessing the gaurds might have taken things like that away when they captured him, but the rest of us seem to be as good as captured ourselves, and they've let us keep our stuff. Presumably because they know the odds are ever so slightly in their favour, were it to come to a fight .
Requested Perception check...wheee...26 .
Regarding possible reactions to our approaches of the thief...well, me and Ameena both figured that since Drommal said he's "in our charge", that means exactly what it looks like it means, so we get to decide what to do with him, etc, and if that means being nice to him and untying him, then sod those armour-wearing doinks . Anyway, he's not gonna get very far with those sword-wielding goons all around, is he?
As for biting through the ropes, if they're not magically-strong or anything, Ameena should be able to get through them in a few chews. If not, let me know before I post again so I don't end up having to make alterations . Anyway, she's waiting for the thief dude (who really needs to introduce himself so I can stop calling him the "thief dude" ) to basically give permission, I suppose, rather than just diving in with gnashing teeth and nomming away at his wrists. Anyway, if his hands are restinf in his lap or something, and he's kneeling down, were she to "dive in" like that, her intended target might be umm...misinterpreted .

Ameena wrote:Anyway, she's waiting for the thief dude (who really needs to introduce himself so I can stop calling him the "thief dude" )

They think that it's me

Ameena wrote:Anyway, if his hands are restinf in his lap or something, and he's kneeling down, were she to "dive in" like that, her intended target might be umm...misinterpreted.

I REALLY have to say bloody "ROFLMAO"!

Heh, I'm hoping (insane party actions excluded) to start blending you lot together by the end of next week, or the start of the week afterwards. Can you hold out that long?

Lol, yes, OB and I guess Ameena too are so geared for the thief being you! Heh, of ocurse if you had wanted to play a thief, it might have been you, but he was already set up with a very restricted background so is probably better as an NPC.

Anyway, there's no harm in the party treating every character as if they are 'real', since they are in the game world.

Similarly, to Sir Farel, he is the hero and YOU are the NPC he's acquired

The reasons why the thief is treated as a prisoner, and you are on tenderhooks but allowed to be freer might be revealed later....or at least strongly hinted at, depending on your actions.

As you can see, the guards facetious saying he's in your charge (the undertone being, since you seem to know each other, if he messes up it's on your head too) and you actually trying to take full charge of the prisoner and release him were two different things.

For whatever reason, you have some leeway here.

If you think it was a case of odds, then figure out how to further tip those odds. If it's something else, it might be advantageous to figure out roughly what that is so you know why you aren't dead or in ropes!

Ohh, please oh please can something big come along and pick up Drommal and call him its "pet human" and drag him off or something . He really is a wanker, and he's really got it coming to him. If the murafu had come from cats or dogs rather than rats he would most certainly have earned himself a hiss/growl by now. Bastard.
Anyway...I'll make an IC post now, though Ameena won't be wanting to say much in front of these guys. Since as I've mentioned before, murafu don't really get angry as such, it's because they tend to go the other way and feel somewhat saddened, even upset, when people treat them this way. They sort of get used to it the more it happens, but they never really stop wondering why other species often seen so intolerant of their kind - they understand that rats might be viewed with antagonism (at least partially - yes rats might nom all the food in a barn, say, but only because they humans, or whatever, put it there...), but they aren't rats. They don't really get why most people don't accept that and treat them as they would each other...well, okay, these species do tend to spend a lot of time killing each other, so maybe, to some extent, they already do .

The names he gives, though, are unfamiliar.

Oops, I guess the problem with posting at 2pm. Although you cannot remember this information ahead of time, I will let you know if he says anything that sounds 'false'. I guess otherwise, assume what he says is then retroactively something you remember (such a his name) as if someone reminding you of a dream you had. Although I should have made an effort to mention that in PM that this initial information seemed true (the name, the part about travelling with a group you have no idea over, although you do not recall anyone else travelling with him when you met). Sorry, it was 2pm and I have a cold!

money wrote:Too many questions were unanswered and before they could even start to work through each of them they were being pushed to moved on.

O.O

Narratively, game pacing wise, or just because I'm evil this has definitely been ...well, not a deliberate choice, but an issue I have deliberately not created narrative space to correct.

Obviously, at some point relatively soon there will be the calm before/after the storm to get your bearings again. Probably a week like the first week you played, where there are no updates and you can just just bounce around conversation IC and have the characters get a better sense of themselves. Infact, it would probably be the same time our new player is properly integrated into the game.

I am also tempted to start a separate thread for player-only discussion where I will say nothing and let you lot just say your OOC thoughts and assessments where the flow won't get interrupted by other game issues.

Let me know what you think!