The Dice Are Weak With Me

Indeed, I'll take the latter of your suggestions: opting to intimidate the entire group for later effects. As you wrote Baily, I was tempted to place all of the burden on him, but the chance to take another swing is too overpowering.

Finishing his war-cry, Kaspar stands up straight and broadens his shoulders squarely in front of Pled. Not a moment later, the thief swings his sword again, aiming for Pled -- this time face to face. Again, however, Pled is too quick and moves to block with his flail. While Kaspar's sword is large enough to crush through the meager weapon, Pled's deflection is enough to prevent a gaping wound.

Kaspar only managed a 12 on his attack roll.

Following Kaspar's magnificent swing, Castille enters the room, allowing his robes to flow gracefully behind him. He makes his way around the door and stares down the man in the metal armor. Castille chants loudly as his hand begin to glow a faint but growing blue. The quicker he chants, the stronger the light grows, until arcs of electricity leap between his fingers and even from his hands to his body.

Castille then leaps, arms outstretched, at the man. But Farvin is paying attention and deftly side-steps the oncoming attack.

Only a roll of 4 for Castille. Even with modifiers, it's not enough.

What The - !?

"So I sez to him why don't we just brick the lgajing tunnel up?" snorts Vitte, scratching an armpit so hard that hsi jowls shook. "And he's like, no...procedure. Like procedure got that elf anywhere."

Bailey listened to the chuckles that followed. Bane the elven dark cleric was dead, but the men were still nervous about joking about him. He stared at his cards. A pair. AGAIN.

"You didn't tell him any such thing," grumbled Farvin from where he stood. Farvin had drawn the short straw and had to stand, so as a result he was in a grouchy mood. "You're a wimp, Vitte. You don't have the stones to stand up to him."

"Hey!" yelled Vitte (despite the fact that he was supposed to be watching the tunnel). "If I didn't have such a hot hand I'd come over there and show you something!" He shook his flail menancingly.

"Your hand is hot when you're eating chili," coughs Pled. He sat across from Vitte, his back to the door. He spoke little, except to complain about the heat and stale air. Bailey had wanted to shut the door all the way, but it was too stifling in here. Pled in particular would have challenged him to a duel then and there.

No one is in charge, Bailey grumbled in his head. If that lgaj had put one of us in charge we could stop this petty bickering. If. If, if, if. And if he hadn't gotten drunk and killed that prostitute he wouldn't be on the run from the law, and needing to join up with this stupid cult. Frickin' religious nuts. A temple adept had once told Bailey that he was 'too lawful.' What the heck was that supposed to mean?

"If you think I don't have it, then raise me," Vitte taunted to Pled. Pled stared at him, then tossed some coins into the center of the card table. Pled started to reach down to scratch his ankle.

"Screw this," Bailey said, tossing his cards down. "Hey Farvin, you want to trade -"

And then a jumble of things happened all at once.

WHAM! The door flew all the way open with a crash, and slammed into Farvin. Only the sentry's steel shield kept him from being knocked over.

SWISH! The biggest sword that Bailey had ever seen parted Pled's hair. If Pled hadn't bent down to scratch his ankle...

THWOCK! A bolt passes wihtin inches of Vitte's head. The jowled man barely had time to blink.

"Grrr!" roared the ugliest half-orc that Bailey had ever seen. His eyes were the most menancing red - like a snake's eyes.

Behind the half-orc stepped a half-elf, too beautiful to be real, liek an angel. An avenging angel. He held a crossbow and had flat, serious eyes.

"Oh...oh..." said Bailey, his mouth agape. "Oh..."

Pled was the first to react, yanking at his flail, trying to get up, knocking the card table over. Vitte was swearing, and Farvin was yelling questions. Bailey just thought about getting through one of the doors in the room as fast as possible - away from that horrible face.

(The bad guys rolled a cruddy 4 on their initative, so you two go again. As for the Intimidate check, if you want to spend it as your attack, then I will make a level check for one designated opponent and if he fails he'll have a -2 on all rolls next turn. On the other hand, if the Intimidate check was just a general menancing, then it will count as your move-equiv action and will serve to soften them up when and if you negotiate with them or interrogate them later, wihtout having a game effect now, but then you get another bastard sword attack this round while they are flat-footed.

To make the above a bit more comprehensible: Intimidate who? A single target takes your whole turn, but has an immediate game effect if they fail their level check. The group as a whole has a game effect later, but not now, but you get to make another sword attack.)

Knowledge Arcana Check Result

Warforged do not keep bleeding at negative hit points.

When a regular living creature gets to -1 or more hit points, it bleeds and dies slowly, to the tune of one hit point a round, until one of three things happen. 1) It gets to -10 and dies. 2) It gets some magical healing and it stabilizes. 3) It stabilizes by itself 10% of the time (and for the other 90% of the time see option 1)

Warforged on the other hand become inert. Their main functions shut down and they are unconcious. (And for creatures that do not sleep that's something.) They do not lose hit points, except perhaps after many, many years of natural erosion.

The warforged that you 'killed' didn't die. It went inert at -5 hit points, and fell into the muck. (And you will recall that it is immune to disease.) Obviously the cult of the Dragon Below drained the vat, foudn him, and are now trying to repair him.

(Boy will he be ticked off when he sees you.)

A Loud Bark

Castille makes a 12 on his Knowledge Arcana check. On his hide check, Kaspar gets a 14; Castille a 22 on a natural 20 (figures the sorcerer beats the thief).

Without a word to each other, the team moves down the stairway and next to the door. On the way over, Catille's light shines a shadow of Kaspar into the next room. The thief holds his breath as the guard across the table glances up from his cards. But a mocking voice draws his gaze in time: "Cards are nothing but a drunkard's pastime, wretch." Kaspar glares at Castille for his carelessness, but curses silently at himself.

With a swift move, Castille lays the sunrod on the ground and prepares his crossbow. The bow's action is cocked and Castille's aim is straight-away. When the door opens, he'll be staring down the observant guard just long enough to pull the trigger.

And as Castille makes his preparations so too does Kaspar lift himself violently from a crouch. Heaving his entire body into the door hard enough to make it swing around towards the guard standing on the other side, the half-orc refuses to pause. He barrels onward toward the near guard -- the one with his back to the door -- and makes a mighty swing at the man's neck.

The guard was quick enough, though, and he saw the fear in his friends' eyes. He shifts left. Kaspar's bastard sword comes crashing down into the man's chair and rents it in two. The room is filled with the crunch of wood and the ping of twigs scattering on a stone floor. Nothing but scrap wood and tinder is left. In his frustration, Kaspar let's out a maddening war cry. He means only to intimidate.

Then, Catille lets loose a bolt. It strikes that table in dead center. A miss, and Castile busies himself with a spell.

Kaspar scored a 7 on his sword attack. On the door attack, he made a 14 -- also a miss -- and so much for great plans. Still, I didn't narrate it as Kaspar was too focused to notice. As for Kaspar's intimidation attempt, he gets a 20. I'll leave that narration to you, but at least the half-orc made an impressive entrance.

As for Castille, his shot was at an 8. Miss again.

Initiative for next round: Kaspar, 22; Castille, 13.

Knowledge Arcana Check

Okay, this is my fault. Knowledge Arcana checks can be made to figure things out about constructs, which includes living constructs. When Tim's PCs first met Loner, the warforged barbarian with the Greataxe that was running around the tunnels still fighting the last war, they needed the gnome journalist to fill them in. (Which is one of the reasons that I had him accompany them, especially since Tim was not used to the Eberron Campaign Setting.)

However, in a post from last week, the PCs found the secret door to the middle of the vat, and opened it, noticing that Loner's body was missing. By this point Castille had ranks in Knowledge Arcana and I should have asked for a check. I forgot. (Whoops.)

So, Knowledge Arcana check please.

Housekeeping Updates

I wanted to let everyone know that I finally posted both Kaspar's and Castille's new character sheets. You can find them in the column on the left-hand side of the web-page. Be aware, however, that the equipment lists on these sheets are inaccurate. The program I use to maintain the sheets is a bear to use when it comes to equipping characters. I find it oh so much easier to handle that mess of bookkeeping by hand.

Also, Charles' most recent map of the guardroom our intrepid heros are about to pounce into is also in the left-hand column.

Enjoy.

Scenario Clarification

Yes, there is cover from the quarter-open door, so you could attempt a Hide check. You don't need to roll Move Silently again, they aren't going to hear you.

You Spy With Your Little Eye...

(I actually was planning on doing a whole narrative based on your rolls, trying to do the game story-telling style, especially since your rolls were so awesome. I was planning stuff in my head while waiting at the airport this morning. But I'm too bushed now and I have class in 10 minutes. So this time we just get the bare bones.)

You hear them. They don't hear you. They're human and can't see you (yet). You're a half-orc with darkvision and a half-elf with low-light vision. You can see them just fine.

Peering as you crouch, you can see that the stairs go down about 10 feet and go out maybe 12 feet. Some 8-9 feet after that is a door that has been left ajar. There are lit torches in sconces both flanking the door and inside the 25 x 25 foot room on the other side of the door. You hear four human males. They have on scale mail, light steel shields, and flails. (So their AC is 15 without Dex bonuses.) Three are sitting on collapsable chairs and playing cards, the fourth is hiding behind the quarter-open door, chiding them for their frivolity. (The door opens to your left, and swings inwards. There is at least one other door in the guardroom, possibly more, since you can only see the one directly opposite this one. (I'll send you a paintbrush map when I get the chance.)

It's your move. Shoot a crossbow down some stairs and then ahead is rather tricky. As for merely walking in, the torches do illuminate the area from the middle of the stairs on to the room, and at least one guard is facing your way.

Very Sneaky My Team Is

Kaspar is halfway to his feet when he spots the corner of the mithril shirt under the bed. He almost passes it up in his hurry, not realizing at first what he has spotted. But as he grasps the shirts and holds it up in the dim light, Castille turns with the same amazement that is clearly displayed on Kaspar's face.

Kaspar mutters, "It's beautiful."

He then puts the shirt on underneath his clothing and catches up with Castille outside.

Moving forward to the dimly lit staircase...

Kaspar nets a 20 on his listen, and natural 20+9=29 on his move silently check. Castille: a 15 and (wholly crap) natural 20+2=22 respectively. I promise those were honest rolls.

Kaspar leads the way, with Castille behind. Castille has already cocked his crossbow with a regular bolt. Kaspar has brought his bastard sword up in a readied position. The thief will peer around the corner to size up the scene. When the inevitable guard appears, Kaspar will use his advantage to launch a sneak attack.

Quick Searches Can Yield Results Too

After taking cursory glances, which includes under the bed from your description, and opening one random drawer (I rolled randomly, and it was the right, lower drawer in the desk which was neither locked nor trapped), you gain the following items.

2 gold bars, easily worth 400 g.p. apiece. They are stamped with the mint of House Kundarak (The dragonmarked dwarven house that runs the banking institutions in Khorvaire).

4 potions of cure light wounds (d8+3)

2 +1 bolts with cold effect (+d6 cold damage)

A +2 sun bolt, this is a +2 bolt that does an additional 2d4 damage against undead

And under the bed...a mithril chain shirt. (Chain shirt is light armor, so Kaspar can wear it. A normal chain shirt has an Armor Check Penalty of -2 to athletic skills. Mithril chain shirts have no armor check penalty at all. The Armor bonus is +4 instead of +2, so Kaspar's AC goes up. Also, all mithril work is masterwork, so you can get it enchanted once you have the money.)

With your swag, you leave the room (using the ghoul body...ewww) and jump easily to the southern balcony in the room where you killed all those cultists while saving the six , and head down the southern tunnel. (Correct, there are no other exits here, and as I mentioned when we gamed at my apt the other areas of the sewers are no longe relevant, so you are heading south now.

As previously mentioned in a post on June 9th: Looking south Kaspar can see that the passage goes for 40 feet and then turns east (to his left as he faces south) down a stairwell. Thirty feet down is a steel door bolted shut from this side, on the west wall (to Kaspar's right).

As you approach the steel door (are you walking side-by side as the corridor/tunnel is ten feet wide or is Castille behind Kaspar?), you see that it has been opened since the last time that you were here. You smell mildew. Lots of it.

Peering through the door with your sunrod (or are you using something else?), you can see...the vat. The ratention vat that used to be full of sewer water. Above you is the catwalk, below you is the bottom of the vat. The cultists had built this door some time ago. From the vat side it fits in seamlessly, a secret door from that direction.

Indeed someone had built an alternative valve (altho no the kobold sniper who was so famously bluffing). The vat ahs been emptied. Why, you do not know.

Except...

You remember that warforged with the greataxe and mithril body that you killed with the shortspear? It's not here...

Well, nothing left there, you turn the corner, and see stairs headed down. From ahead you can see light.

(Both of you make Listen and Move Silently checks, and yes there is a guardroom down those stairs.)

No Time For Searching

Kaspar and Castille will spend only a small amount of time searching the room. They take cursory glances on and around the furniture, or open the random drawer without any thought of traps. After hastily taking what they can, Castille turns to Kaspar, "We'll have to come back. I know this room is worth the effort, but there is still a chance that Kegga is alive. I'd rather he live, then I pay for another round of ale in somber celebration. Come on."

Kaspar looks up from underneath the bed to meet Castille's eyes. He still has his bastard sword at the ready; his eyes are darting around the room. Without argument, Kaspar nods, climbs to his feet and follows his companion. They'll check the trap door first and then proceed back. On the way out, Kaspar closes the door behind him and barricades it with whatever he can -- including the body of the ghoul to ward off would-be looters.

Just to be sure, there are no other exits besides the trapdoor, correct? In other words, the team should be heading back to the other, unexplored tunnel?

As for searching, let's call it three rolls, taking ten on each.

It's Down, And Treasure Awaits

Well, I spent about 20 minutes making an alternative ghoul, different feats and skills, slightly different ability stats, overall a really wicked and clever piece of undead.

He's undead sausage now. Nice job. You guys got him without even a Fortitude save from his paralysis ability.

(XP will be sent via email.)

The door at the other end of the hall is decorated with arcane and religious symbols. All they did was trap the ghoul in here. The door is not locked or trapped. (I figure why would it be, there was a lock on the outer door and a pet ghoul in the short corridor.)

Beyond the door is the dark cleric's personal quarters. A lavish four-poster bed dominates the room - with expensive satin sheets that drape onto the tiled floor. There is also a massive oak desk, two cabinets, and a ladder bolted to one wall that leads up to a cleverly hidden trapdoor in an alley above. (A secret escape route.)

So how much time do you want to spend tossing the place? You're still trying to go rescue Kegga (the shifter foreman), but there is likely to be much treasure here. Some drawers or cabinets may be trapped tho, so decide. You can take 10 on every check in a standard round, but taking 20 costs you 2 minutes each time you do it.

Now That's What I Call Damage

Castille's initiative comes up 17; Castille 18.

The team gives each other knowing glances. Castille's mouth is agape; he's showing his teeth as if sympathizing with the beast's plight. Kaspar, though, is already moving in for the kill. His impatience for combat is exhibited through speed and a head-down move into the fray.

He brings his bastard sword up, and then down. It's as simple as that.

Castille then readies a magic missile spell. With glowing eyes and an elven chant, he prepares to fire; then let's out two darts of fury.

Kaspar comes knocking with a 19 on his attack. Damage is a beautiful 10. Castille is at 4 and 5 with his damage rolls -- if he needs them.

That Hurt!

The thing twitches and snarls as the bolt punches it in the shoulder. No blood comes out of the wound, but you see the skin and flesh around the bolt shrivel and dry up a bit. The creture whirls, snarls with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth located under a shriveled nose, and yells "MEAT!!!!" It jumps towards you...

(It's initiative is 13, roll yours and then we rumble.)

Gnaw On This!

Kaspar is certainly on his toes, but not close enough to bring his very new and very sharp bastard sword to bear this round. Instead, he gives a half-hearted groan, swipes the sunrod out of Castille's hand, and takes a five-foot step forward and to the left -- leaving Castille with an open line of sight.

"Castille, would you mind?" Kaspar poses with a sweeping hand gesture.

On cue, the half-elf brings his crossbow to his shoulder, nestles his chin, and fires straight at the beast's torso.

We'll worry about the arcana check next round. For now, Castille scores a 19 on his shot. Damage is 3 hp.

I almost had Castille say something to the effect of, "Gnaw on this!" but opted to save the canned lines for another day. Oh well. Oh, and I'll post the new character sheets either tonight or tomorrow. Just an update.

Flashback Interlude

Anyone remember when Kaspar and Castille heroically faced off against the sewer crocodile?

I found this at the Wizard's website and thought about it.

That Door!

I forgot to mention a lot of things. I posted it very late and I was rushed. Ah, well...

Tim fought a group of cultists in a room with 4 balconies surrounding a deep alligator pit. In any event, he is checking out the door to the west, in front of which the big evil cleric (an elf who is now a crispy critter) was chanting.

You hear something pacing back and forth, and the scraping of fingernails on stone tunnel walls. I rolled a horrible Listen check for it, and you popped that lock open pretty fast (There was no trap), so...

The door swings open, and a humanoid creature is standing there, with its back half-turned away from you. It looks like a dessicated, shriveled human, it's skin balding and flaking with jaundiced tones. Its fingernails are long and jagged like claws, and it is gnawing on what looks to be a chicken bone with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth. The smell of decay wafts from the figure.

The figure is in a short hallway, 10 feet wide, 25 feet long. Another door lies at the opposite end of the hallway. That door is also reinforced wood, but has not lock, just a pull bar. The door is covered by symbols of the dragon below and some weird swirly deisgns.

If Castille tries to make a Knowledge Arcana check at this point, the distance from the deisgna nd the fact that the ungly humanoid and Kaspar are slightly blocking him will give him a -5 circumstance penalty. You can try anyway, and while there is no retry you can add the 5 back on if you can get close enough to the far door.

In the meantime the chicken-bone-chewing thing is starting to turn, sensing that the air is wrong, as it is now flowing. (There is also now light in here from your sunrod.) However you have surprise, and each of you can get a partial action.

The thing is 15 feet from Ksapar, 20 feet from Castille. (Castille being behind Kaspar.) Kaspar currently blocks any crossbow shot that Castille could make as he is in the doorway.

No intiative yet. Highest Dex goes first, or Kaspar goes first if it is a tie (which I think it is). After the surprise round we roll initiative.

Door? What Door?

Charles, you forgot to mention the cleric's very creepy ray of enfeeblement. It wasn't so much the ray (he missed) but the description. As he put out the flames on his robes, he cast the spell and muttered a taunt. He blew dust from his hand, but it wasn't just the black killing dust that lifted from his palm. Also came flakes of dead or burnt skin. And I imagine his eyes burned evil as well.

Now, let's press forward...

Before venturing down the southern corridor, Kaspar will press his ear to the western door. Castille is poised, but keeping watch.

If Kaspar hears any immediate danger, he will quickly pick the lock and peer in. Otherwise, if the room is silent, he'll take his time with the lock (take 20) after searching it for traps.

The team will move west first.

Kaspar makes a natural 20 on his listen check and a modified 20 on his search check. In case a quick lock-picking is required, the roll is a (whoa) second natural 20. Kaspar is busting a move! Unfortunately, to enter the room silently, he only managed a 13. Let me know if you need any checks from Castille.

Game Update

Tim came by tonight to teach me a little about Legal Writing. Then we spent a lot of time on DnD. A quick synopsis: The two prisoners were both changelings, Rog 1/Celric 1. The real prisoner was held behind the sigils. The changelings were defeated (they were not really imprisoned) and the real prisoner was freed. (In the process Castille accidentally put Kaspar to sleep and sprinkled acid on him.) The prisoner turned out to have powerful divine magic, and once released cured them, spoke a prophecy about Fast Eddie, how they would meet him 3 more times, and he would be a friend, a foe, and a pawn (altho not necessarily in that order). Then the man left without giving his name. At this point Kaspar and Castille leveled up, and their new stats are soon to be posted. It is noteworthy that Kaspar took a rank in Knowledge Local for the Eldeen Reaches, which is where they are going next.

Then they dropped into the altar room, went around the door to fight an orc warrior, then surprised 3 goblin before they could raise an alarm. While Kaspar got caught by one trap, they broke into a storage room and disabled a magic trap, finding 4 potions of cure light wounds and two firey +1 bolts. Then then found all of the captives except Kegga the shifter foreman, and a pitched battle ensued. A human in chain mail was ahcked down via sneak attack, an evil elven cleric was struck down by firey crossbow bolts, and the rest of the cultists were slain and the prisoners rescued from over a crocodile pit. Our heroes got the prisoners topside, were healed and given some reward money, and now they are back in the room over the alligator pit (where they have placed some planks that they brought with them), contemplating their next action. It is an hour until sundown, and the have the western balcony with the locked door, or the southern balcony with the open door that leads to the 10 foot wide passage south.

Looking south Kaspar can see that the passage goes for 40 feet and then turns east (to his left as he faces south) down a stairwell. Thirty feet down is a steel door bolted shut from this side, on the west wall (to Kaspar's right).

The Bars Are Thick, But Their Mountings Are...Silver?

Upon closer inspection of the bars, it seems that the large silvery pattern on the north wall has tendrils that flow onto the east and west walls, and those tendrils break up and touch each and every place where the bars enter stone. Oddly there seems to be no door to these cells, just bars of metal stuck into the stone, as if the prisoners were sealed in there.

The Interrogation

I am assuming that Castille's 16 and 9 on Sense Motive affect the western prisoner and the eastern prisoner respectively, as well as Kaspar's 16 and 22. Thus, Castille and Kaspar both got a 16 on Sense Motive-ing the western prisoner, but Kaspar's fine intuition on the eastern prisoner shines far better than Castille's. (For simplicity's sake I will call the prisoners WP and EP.)

WP seems to be telling the truth, so far as you can tell. Your 16 Sense Motive should catch all but the very experienced of liars. EP on the other hand seems a little fishy to Kaspar. Kaspar gets the feeling that EP is bluffing.

Kaspar approached the prisoner on the right, which would be the east, and thus he approached EP, who he thinks is lying about something. His challenges to EP are met as follows.

EP: "I am the one telling the truth! I am Joseph Woodehouse, refugee from Cyre, and minister to the downtrodden. I served my village of Meadowshine for long years during the war, providing -"

WP: "Oh stop it, stop claiming my village and my name, just stop!"

Kaspar shoots WP a black look and WP sighs.

EP: "As I was saying, before this evil thing interrupted me, I fled my country on the Day of Mourning that destroyed Cyre, and I wandered to Breland. In Breland I was ambushed by dark clerics who snared me with webs made of shadow. I dreamt horrible dreams in captivity, awakening only briefly to find myself in Aundair, and then again to watch them crave my likeness onto that undead thing! Now I sit, taunted by a creature from beyond the grave that mocks me with my own voice and claims to be me! The feed me moldy bread and filthy water and bring that - that abomination - cups of blood from their sacrificial chamber -"

WP: "SHUT! UP! I can't listen to you anymore! I've never been the Breland -"

EP: "No, you were assembled here in Aundair!"

WP: "He's a changeling, a shapeshifter, one fo the cultists, you don't believe his lies, do you?"

EP: "You will be found out, foul creature, have the decency finally, the simple decency -"

WP: "How dare you speak of decency?"

The bickering begins immediately, and in the insults you hear that EP claims not to have married and WP claims that his wife died in Cyre on the Day of Mourning. Both claim to be 52 years of age, and they look it. EP claims to have an earliest memory of an apple harvest, for WP it is his mother singing.

Castille's Examination

Castille frowns, looking at the loops and swirls, as memories of his mentoring in magic come back to him...

It's a lock. The silvery metal is painted on, a mithril powder mixed with some sticky paste, probably the blood of a fiend, and its purpose is to keep the wall ahead of Castille sealed shut. What the key is for Castilel does not know as neither the prisoners' cells nor the wall ahead of him contain a lock. But the silvery design is definitely holding something behind the wall. And it seems powered in part by the tendrils that reach onto the east and west walls.

I Just Hope the Bars Are Thick

Checks

Using yet another action point, Castille comes up with a 14 on the knowledge arcana role. On his sense motive check, it's a more respectable 16 followed by an average for the course 9.

Kaspar has a 16 and a 22 on his sense motive checks.

Action

Castille stands in the middle of the room staring at the ancient symbols. He could look to his right or to his left, but the very real possibility of actually having to cope with the situation has left him very intent on his studies.

Kaspar on the other hand is simply glad to have entered a room free (for now) of any immediate danger. It's a sigh of relief for the half-orc as he approaches the entity on his right-hand side.

Kaspar starts, "Stop that screaming. I'll help the lot of you by sticking a sword through your gullets if you don't stop that yellin'. Now, tell me, you, how do I know that you're tellin' the truth?

"For instance, if you both look the same, do you both think the same? Eh? Come on? What about memories? What's the earliest thing you can remember? And for that matter, what's your wife's name?"

Whoops To All

Uh, hi everyone. Yes, Kaspar has been doing 1.5 x Str mod for damage when using a rapier two-handed , and yes that isn't allowed in 3.5, but it was in 3rd, and I didn't realize until now, so we shall proceed in 3.5 now.

Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the show.

A Pit, A Door, A Conundrum

The five-foot wide circular hole in the floor in the northeast corner of the room smells of dried blood. Peering down using your light source you see why. There is a room below, with a dark altar festooned with carvings of skulls and the sigil of the cult of the Dragon Below. Shackles are set on the corners of the altar to hold its victims, and there are blood gutters for draining. The room below is small, and you can see another door, but little else unless you jump down there. (I will be emailing you a paintbrush pic.)

The door to the northwest has voices speaking in common. You hear two voices, or is it one? It is the same voice that seems to be coming from two different directions! The speaker(s) heard your fighting and are yelling 'free me, not him!' and 'Beware, he is a copying creature!' Odd that.

There are no traps or treasure in this room, although Kaspar does find some etchings in one corner, very, very faded. If you had charcoal and paper you could make some rubbings.

There are no traps or locks on the door to the northwest. You push it open slightly and see...

A small room (whose pic I have also emailed to you). There is a cell to the west and a cell to the east. In each stands an identical human male, aged forty-something, wearing identical rags, and having a scarred, worn face, and stringy gray hair. From the northern edge of the west cell, crawling along the north wall, and then down to the northern edge of the east cell, is a winding, silvery pattern of swirls, odd symbols, and numbers. (Make a Knowledge Arcana check Castille. Minimum DC 11, but the higher you go the more you learn.) There is a small, guttering candle set on the floor of the north wall. Next to the candle is a small brass key, well out of reach of both cells.

Each human rushes to the bars and begins yabbering. Not only do they have identical appearances, down to the very last scar, but they have identical voices. Each begs to be rescued, says that they are a holy man kidnapped by this evil cult, and that the other is a liar and a tricky shapeshifter. They do not speak as one, but over each other. Each begs you to be freed and hurls curses at the other, and warns you of the other's ill intent. (Each PC should make two Sense Motive checks.)

Questions? Comments?

Take Five; Move Along

Castille's eyes widen as the fiend vanishes. His final spear thrust tears apart the last remaining wisp of black vapor, but the conflict is over. The half-elf plants his spear on the ground as if it were a walking stick, and then leans on it with exhaustion. His breath is a steady and rapid pace.

"Kaspar, are you hurt badly? I saw the beast's wing knock you to the ground."

In fact, Kaspar has slumped to the floor in front of the northern door. He is still griping the knob tightly with his left hand, his arm raised limply over his head. In his right, the rapier is poised and at attention.

"Castille, friend, I'm hurt. But I can move if that's what ya mean. One more strike, and I'd be a corpse I suppose. Where do you suppose that fiend went off to?"

"To hell I hope. Here, let me help you to your feet."

The two will take a moment to breathe. Once their minds have settled, Kaspar will search the room, including the northwestern pit. He's searching for any signs of traps or treasure of course -- but also for some clue as to what lies beyond the northern door.

On the basis of Kaspar's findings, Castille will listen closely at that door before turning the knob and quietly pressing it open. He will peer ahead before entering. But if danger rears its head immediately, the two will toss what they can in front of the opening to serve as barricade, before bolting for the surface.

Search check for Kaspar is a 24 (oh, sure now the big number falls). Castille's listen check is only a 9. Kaspar, on a listen check, scores a natural 20 + 2 = 22.

It Strikes! And Then It Fades...

I rolled a 4 on the attack roll, it has +7 on its bite, and that makes an 11, and Castille's AC is 12.

It growls, a mixture of bloodlust and fear - fear of failure. "I will not pay the full price!" it snarls, whirling to chomp on the half-elf. Castille backs up, and the fangs miss his throat by inches! Still its bulk slams into the half-elf, starting to drive him to his knees, when...

The fiend wavers, and puffs apart into black air that disappates, and Castille is left alone, hunched over hsi spear, seeking his opponent needlessly.

You did it.

At Best, A Distraction

With less than a minute before the fiend disappears into the ether, Castille steels his grip on the shortspear. Recoiling from his magic missile, Castille steps back and then forward. He drives his spear at the fiend.

"I'm the one you want. Face me!"

Rolled a 6 on the attack. I will not win with this spear.