Quest #21 "Island Hopping"

[OGRE MAGE]

I am going to need to adjudicate this out round by round here, so if you have already posted 4 rounds worth of actions, (Saracen) please dont post anything more this coming round! Sorry, but any stated actions already posted are binding. I really dont know how else to do this when players try to put 5 minutes of action in one post.

From now on, if you are casting a spell that takes 2 rounds to complete, please dont make 3 other actions and add a bunch of dialog in the same post!

I suppose I could also mention that it is really bad form to post a bunch of actions in a row, and then agree with another player that you could do all the things you already posted later.

Gruesome Revelations
Freeday, 19th of Goodmonth
Late Morning, Dank, Damp, Depressing

Maag congratulates the others on their great success, looking around the room to find the treasure pile. He agrees with the others suggestions to bring the stoned paladin back with them, even if it does take two trips.

Saracen pulls out his freshly crafted ruin filled and blessed augury sticks which he recently carved out of minotaur horns. The ugly priest begins a lengthy prayer to determine how the group should proceed while Gramble lops the strange creatures head off completely. Tlachtga and Carucenus suggest more thorough methods of destruction, the fighter actually cutting the hands off the beast as well. (Its feet are currently encased in about 5 feet of stone, so I'm not sure how you want to attempt to cut them off too.)

Lerrick takes the fourth and final glowing stone from the shelves filled with female trinkets and puts it away to use later. Touching her new owl headed mace to the stoned paladin does nothing. She then suggests they should continue their exploration before leaving. Alordan contemplates it all quietly for a moment before moving to Mina for a few more questions. The woman throws herself at the ranger and grabs him up in a big, sincere hug. "Oh thank you, thank you. Thank you for saving me from......from......." She looks at the covered form on the slab and almost starts crying again. "A wizard? In here? No, sorry. I dont know of any wizard, or of anyone named Brutus."

Andronichishche still seems unsatisfied with the outcome of this encounter, talking over some options about what to do with the pink powder with Lerrick. He hands the tube to Saracen, who is currently in mid-prayer. Then Lerrick makes a few more suggestions, to which the priest of Rao then hands over the tiny decorative box to Saracen as well, who is still in mid-prayer.

As the others start looking over the room a little closer, Andron moves down the short tunnel into the next chamber containing another victim. What he sees surprises him, the much higher stone slab in here being occupied with a desiccated female body that appears to have been there for a long, long time. Forgetting where he is, as he enters the room, his bootless foot catches on a wire or string of some kind positioned just at the edge of the opening. Lerrick hears an audible sigh coming from the half-elf in front of her as his head jerks up at a strange noise suddenly building above him. Save vs. Breath, please.

Actions? Only one at a time please!

map:

71EC5A43-1828-406D-A4DE-6C009CBC28D5.jpeg (99.25 KiB) Viewed 1460 times

Sir Crestbrook 9/11 LoH (Petrified)
Gramble 14/16
Saracen 23/33 0/5 1st 0/2 2nd Light:99 CURRENTLY CASTING A SPELL
Tlachtga 6/8 0/4 1st Torch:4.8 (40'r)
Cu AC:3 11/13
Lerrick 11/11 0/4 1st
Alordan 16/18
Andronichishche 5/6 0/3 1st CL, DM, RM / 1/1 1st Light:44
Maag 12/12
Carucenus 10/10
message on tiny decorative box

[Quonundrum]

Save versus Breath: [1d20] = 2

[Jernau35]

Maag

Just as Andron and Lerrick start to head towards the hallway, Maag steps up and puts his arm around Cresty's shoulder. "Poor ol' Cresty eh?"...Yer know, fer a good bloke, 'e really was not a bad bloke..." Maag breaks off, confusing even himself.

When he sees the others heading towards the hallway, he turns and begins to follow. "Yer, good idea folks! I reckon dat looks like exactly der place where der treasure is kept".

"Der 'ad better not be anuvver bleedin' riddle in 'ere or I will do someone a serious..."

[Quonundrum]

Sorry, thought the conversation occured irrespective of the post order. Saracen should have the vial (not the box, though) as his stated action is to return it to Andron if his augury fails.

[ravenn4544]

Alordan continues to stay with the woman and help keep her calm - and protected - if there is still the yet-to-be-seen brutus character. He'll ask her some more questions slowly, "Anything else about this place you can tell us? Anything at all may be helpful"

[wolfpack]

Hearing maags comment about treasure, gramble starts heading that direction.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sorry for the blow up, folks! I think I have finally taken enough deep breaths to settle down now.

Not your fault, Q. I can usually smear random conversations around throughout one action post, but several actions in one post is difficult to juggle in the same way.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche, deep in thought over recent events, was only partly focusing on his conversations with Lerrick and Saracen, even so far as to absentmindedly attempt handing items to the chanting priest of Pholtus. So it was that when he proceeded, limping as it were on one shod foot, down the short passage to the nearby chamber he was virtually oblivious to his surroundings.

Andron was sorting several clues in his mind, culminating with their last encounter with Marquees and the latter's unspoken message to him. Together they inexorably lead him to a single conclusion ... unfortunately, his bare foot stumbles across an unseen tripwire cutting short the summation of his new theory.

With a sigh born from exhaustion, despondency, and not a little self reproach, he instinctively jerks his head up in response to hearing a sudden, strange, swelling noise ...

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga and Cu will continue their search of this room, until they are aware something is happening in the other room.

[Karaunios]

Carucenus throws the creatures hand on some wooden table or anything that doesn't make contact with the rock and ignores the feet. He moves to where Mina is, wanting to see how she's doing, but will be cautious, taking the occasional look down the tunnel to the north.

[OGRE MAGE]

Again, I would like to apologize for my earlier outburst. I made the mistake of letting some personal things that are happening right now, and some unfriendly things that were mentioned in private get to me and I shouldn't have let that overflow into the public game thread. Storm has ultimately decided to leave the game because of this, and I will respect and honor that decision. I will NPC Saracen for the time being and will be writing up an explanation on all that business once these game threads have been updated.

Gruesome Revelations
Freeday, 19th of Goodmonth
Late Morning, Dank, Damp, Depressing

Maag has a moment with the stone Cresty still lying on the floor of the chamber, patting his hard hair affectionately and looking at the horrified expression on the paladin's face. He spins the poor bloke over and pats his back a little for good measure. Once he leaves his friend in peace, the others can see some small words on the statue's back written in black charcoal. He and Gramble then follow Andron towards the next chamber.

Alordan and Carucenus continue to calm the terribly shaken Mina, pulling the rest of the chains off of her and cleaning her up where they can. Seeing the paladin turned to stone on the floor, all the poor woman can do is mumble to herself and shake uncontrollably. Tlachtga removes the rag covering her much calmer dogs eyes. The druidess finds a few more silver trinkets on the shelves, assuming that they each might have some minor monetary value.

Lerrick sticks the creatures head in an old sack, careful not to look into its eyes as she does so. She then takes a sudden interest in the buried treasure found earlier, taking the glass vial of pink powder and the tiny decorative box from Andron, allowing the half-orc to keep up with his spell. Saracen continues to pray over his carved sticks when more tragedy in the tunnel suddenly strikes.

Andron looks up just in time to see a massive rusty iron portcullis coming straight down at him. The clanking noise of whirring gears and banging metal intensifies as the heavy grate crushes the frail priest under its immense weight, pinning the poor half elf to the ground and knocking him out in the process, nearly killing him outright. 8 dam The pair of massive fighters behind him see this all happen, wondering if their much smaller friend survived being crushed.

Actions?

map:

AD378A93-951D-4FEC-8EFB-D316D8F6E908.jpeg (110.77 KiB) Viewed 1367 times

Sir Crestbrook 9/11 LoH (Petrified)
Gramble 14/16
Saracen 23/33 0/5 1st 0/2 2nd Light:98 CURRENTLY CASTING A SPELL
Tlachtga 6/8 0/4 1st Torch:4.7 (40'r)
Cu AC:3 11/13
Lerrick 11/11 0/4 1st
Alordan 16/18
Andronichishche -3/6 0/3 1st CL, DM, RM / 1/1 1st Light:43 (Unconscious)
Maag 12/12
Carucenus 10/10
message on tiny decorative box

[ravenn4544]

Alordan turns at the sound of screeching metal - and then a mushy thud. He utters, "Carucenus, stay with her - she knows you," as he heads to help the unfortunate fellow under the gate.

[Quonundrum]

With a sigh born from exhaustion, despondency, and not a little self reproach, he instinctively jerks his head up in response to hearing a sudden, strange, swelling noise ...

... Andronichishche could see the outline of a rusty metal grate rapidly plunging towards him, the sound of defiant chains grinding through old mechanisms confirmed this observation ... then it began to slow down, or he sped up? He really couldn't tell, he just knew that in this moment his senses were acutely sharp and events around him progressed agonizingly slowly. He could even hear the now slow, almost guttural sounding chanting from Saracen behind him. The words sounded familiar and yet so strange, as in this moment each syllable pronounced followed another in an excruciatingly slow staccato. Was this a near death experience? He had heard anecdotal evidence of the phenomena but never quite understood how it worked. Perhaps it's an effect from staring into the anomaly? The sensation was definitely similar, although back then the black void had sapped his conscious will, unlike this moment in time.

All of these thoughts rushed through his mind in the amount of time it took the portcullis to drop a mere few inches. He quickly, relatively speaking, discovered that unlike his now crystallized senses and thoughts, his body was inversely affected. In fact, he felt numb and could barely register any response from his limbs to the urgent commands his subconscious brain was transmitting to them. Scientific curiosity took over and he attempted to analyze the situation, but immediately after this new train of thought began that he realized his mistake. The two modes of thinking were entirely incompatible as his rational brain asserted itself to correct the time dilation he was experiencing ... which worked exceptionally well as the falling portcullis rapidly increased speed to a blur and crushed him mercilessly under its immense weight.

[wolfpack]

Gramble rushes to the gate

dumb ass, his brain may be big but holds little sense. maag help me pull this off of him

let me know what i need to roll

[kruk]

Lerrick

The cleric turns quickly and sees Andron trapped under the heavy metal grate. Oh heavens! She turns to Saracen. Saracen! Stop what you are doing! Andron needs your help! NOW!

[OGRE MAGE]

let me know what i need to roll

That would require the traditional Bend Bars/Lift Gates percentile roll.

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga will rush over and see if she can stabilize Andron somehow.

[wolfpack]

Not waiting for Maag, Gramble spreads his feet to widen his base, grabs the bottom of the gate and with a battle cry strains all of his massive muscles pulling the gate up

[1d100] = 11

[Karaunios]

Carucenus is now squatting next to Mina, with his left arm around her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Will do that." he says to be Alordan and remains where he is. Looking at the corridor and at Andron in turn.

[Jernau35]

Maag

Maag grabs the gate and prepares to lift. Then he falls off balance as Gramble pushes in beside him and loses his grip. Cursing, the half-orc falls on his backside.

Bend Bars/Lift Gates (35%) [1d100] = 80