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Jerald 8/12 As Allie disappears into the brush, I jerk my head towards the clearing and say, "Let's go!" Then, I rush into the clearing and attack the first digger in clearing. Attack, damage: 1d20+4 23 1d6+4 7
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Aug 23, 2015 03:57
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 15:58 |
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Hendrick Hendrick steps behind a tree and quietly dives into one of the thick bushes surrounding the clearing, readying his bow. Trying to Stealth my way into a good, hidden firing position. Roll = 13. Success!
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Aug 23, 2015 08:36
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Again, there's no way for the thugs to hear you, but if the guy in the green sash rolls a 14 he'll hear you coming and won't be suprised by you! Wisdom check: 1d20 11, so you manage to sneak into hiding. Once again, the initiative order is Allie, Hendrick, Victor, then Jerald and Jacoby at the same initiative. Your enemies are surprised for this one round. As Victor suddenly charges through the underbrush they turn around, looking very surprised, trying to gain their bearings. Allie and Hendrick are both hidden, which I'm going to say counts for a +4 to any attack rolls. Victor's attack and damage rolls are enough to take out one of the thugs, so he gets to describe how the enemy is taken out (and also whether you just render him unconscious or outright kill him). (Hit Points: 2d8 5) What do you do?
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Aug 23, 2015 11:37
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Allie Allie draws a dagger and testing the wind hurls it at the back of one of the unsuspecting looters head; timing the spin so it hits hilt first. sneak sneak sneak *fling*: 1d20+7 27 THWOK!: 1d4 4
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Aug 23, 2015 14:58
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Hendrick Hendrick takes careful aim at the man in the sash, then lets the arrow fly. Attack roll = 24! Damage roll = 5 The man tumbles back a step, looking somewhat puzzled at the fletched shaft that's suddenly sticking out of his ribcage.
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Aug 23, 2015 20:30
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After the onslaught that is your charge into the clearing the two heavy set men stand at your feet, unconscious. The man in the green sash has barely just recovered from the surprise of a bunch of teenagers with weapons suddenly charging in and taking out his minions. Still holding the relic in one hand he looks at you and in a weak voice says "Uh, parley?"
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Aug 24, 2015 18:49
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Jerald 8/12 I step over the unconscious thug and say, spear still leveled at the man, "Ok, here's the deal. You give us the relic, and I don't beat you senseless. Sound fair?"
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Aug 25, 2015 20:29
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"The relic? Oh, this relic!" says the man in the green sash. He kneels down veeeeery slowly, lays down the relic by his feet, and looks at you, while sweating profusely. He spies Jacoby among you. "Oh, what a coincidence! It's the boy-witch, Jebediah was it? Fancy meeting you here on a day like this! I was just searching for a long-lost pirate treasure here in these woods when I just happened to chance upon these relics which just happen to look exactly like the ones I was asking you about two weeks ago! What a strange coincidence, right?" "I don't think I ever introduced myself. My name is Joop Panders. I'm, uh, an enthusiast in historical artifacts and student of the arcane. I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting your young and extremely heavily armed friends?"
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Aug 26, 2015 16:48
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Jacoby Jacoby looks surprisingly angry. "You've had the pleasure of meeting some of them, yes, but it's early yet. And it's Jacoby. I'm not a 'boy-witch', I'm a witch, thank you very much, and I'd thank you to not forget it." Jacoby crosses his arms as haughtily as he can; his behavior's actually rather unexpected given how he's been acting the past few days. "And as a witch, I've got what you might call a dim view of people who lie to my face like I'm a drat idiot. I've also got what you might call a 'problem' with people who'd trap and torture harmless forest spirits. So why don't you tell me what the hell is going on here so I don't have to start getting impolite."
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Aug 26, 2015 17:13
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As Jacoby gives the man the evilest of eyes he caves. "Alright. Those charms? Stolen by me from the tomb of King Osric many years ago. That old crone Zabitha somehow tracked me down, gave me such a trashing, and took them back. My intention was to use them to bind the late King Osric to my will, because with one of the Dread Emperor's former lieutenants at my beck and call I could easily claim the imperial throne that has stood empty for so long. I knew I'd just have to wait for the right moment." "As it were, that moment presented itself two weeks ago when I scried the hag leaving town for some private business. At last, with those charms in my possession I would be able to perform the ritual that the old witch stopped so many years ago, and bring back King Osric and his servants back from the dead to serve me as their new master!" "And I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!"
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Aug 26, 2015 17:34
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Ratpick posted:As Jacoby gives the man the evilest of eyes he caves. "Alright. Those charms? Stolen by me from the tomb of King Osric many years ago. quote:That old crone Zabitha somehow tracked me down, gave me such a trashing, and took them back. My intention was to use them to bind the late King Osric to my will, because with one of the Dread Emperor's former lieutenants at my beck and call I could easily claim the imperial throne that has stood empty for so long. I knew I'd just have to wait for the right moment." "And think on this: all these things that are after you now? They ain't gonna stop until they catch you. And walls won't stop them. They don't sleep. They will catch up. And they will take it out of your hide." Jacoby pauses, looking down his nose at Joop. "Unless..."
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Aug 26, 2015 17:43
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"Wait, Osric has risen? That can't be right. It's explicitly stated in the stories that he can only be woken up from his slumber by his tomb being defiled, something which the witch specifically helped me to avoid this time by keeping the charms and talismans to herself instead of returning them to Osric, or, and I only say this for the sake of completeness, should his lord to whose service he is bound in both life and death have returned as well, oh." he says with a look of veritable 'oh poo poo' on his face. "Um, forgive me young witch, but I seem to have gotten tangled in something way over my head in my bid for awesome power, because if Osric is indeed back it means that something very grave is stirring as we speak. Given my current predicament, is there anything I can do to make matters even a bit less worse than they already are for me?" The man is obviously panicking right now.
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Aug 26, 2015 19:00
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Jacoby "Well, I could put in a good word with the spirits if you tell me what lord are you talking about?"
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Aug 26, 2015 19:23
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"Ever heard the stories of the Dread Emperor? Well, they're not just stories that mothers tell their children to stop them from misbehaving. He was the real deal. Ruled all of the known lands of men all the way from here to the Western Kingdoms. Not only was he a successful warlord, he also dabbled in the dark arts. Records from his time indicate that he expanded his empire by subjugating local tribal kings and then forcing them to accept a blood pact that bound them to his service both in life and death. Most of those kings, Osric included, did not understand the full implications of being forever bound to service under a madman and student of the dark arts and gladly made the pact, probably because they never expected that they'd have to fulfill the 'and death' part of the bargain." "That's why Osric is such a sound sleeper: even in death his soul can not pass beyond this world." The man sighs. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you: all this, it's probably way too much for you kids to handle. This business goes way beyond your local problems. The best you can hope for is that some great hero decides to take the fight to the Emperor again like in the stories, and just wait for all of this to blow over. Having said that," he pauses, gulping audibly, "given that you've got a treasure-trove of trinkets and baubles sympathetically bound to Osric here, there's a small chance that you lot could take the fight to him and actually have a fighting chance. It won't stop whatever evil's stirring out there in the big world, but it'll help you sort things out here for now." "Now, if you don't mind, I'd very much like to just, you know, vamoose. If what you say is true I'm in for something really bad if Osric catches me with his stolen treasures."
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Aug 26, 2015 19:44
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Jacoby Jacoby stares at the man a little longer than is comfortable. "Fine. I don't think there's anything we can do to you as punishment that'd be worse than what Osric'll do when...excuse me...'if' he catches up with you. But if you ever come back to my woods, I'll sic every spirit here on you. And that's assuming I don't just decide to do something like give you poison ivy on the inside of your skin."
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Aug 26, 2015 19:51
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"Uh, understood. I wish you luck with your dead king problem and pray that you may have a pleasant and dull life in the undoubtedly hellish years to come. Myself, I'm off to find the first ship to the North. I hear it's a really nice and cold and remote blasted wasteland nice and far-removed from any place an army of evil dead might have interest in conquering." With that, Joop makes himself very scarce very quickly. What do you do?
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Aug 26, 2015 19:55
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Jerald 8/12 Once Joop is long gone, I whistle in appreciation of the browbeating Jacoby just handed out and say, "Wow, and I thought I was the bully. That was pretty impressive, Jacoby." I frown as I ponder the rest of what he said and add, "Uh, how much of what he said was true, do ya reckon?" I also nudge the body at my feet and say, "And, uh, what should we do with 'em?"
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Aug 26, 2015 20:20
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The two men are battered, but still alive. They will probably both have a really bad headache once they wake up, but they should be fine. As for how much of what Joop told you being true, you can test Intelligence to see what you personally know of the Dread Emperor! However, since the subject is so obscure you'll be rolling at -4. A failure does not signify that you don't know anything about the subject, but it will give you old wives' tales and tall tales about the subject, while a success will give you a reasonably accurate account of the history. Before rolling, state which specific bit of history relating to him you're rolling about.
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Aug 26, 2015 20:31
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Jacoby Jacoby visibly deflates; he's trembling as he leans against a tree. "Oh my lord I cannot believe that worked..." He turns to Jerald. "Uh, well, Osric is probably angry at the person who stole his stuff; that was more of an educated guess. Everything else was just me bluffing." He smiles weakly. I'll try to think about old legends of "dark lords", ancient boogeymen, that sort of thing. Knowledge: 1d20=11. Missed by 1. "I do know the poison ivy trick, though."
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Aug 26, 2015 20:38
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Jacoby, as far as you know the Dread Emperor could well have been a real historical figure, but since your education was more concerned with the here and the now you only know of him through the aforementioned children's tales, most of which portray him as an evil ruler who forces his subjects to obey his terrible whims only to be finally hoist from his petard by either a brave knight in shining armor or a crafty little peasant kid (as is wont to happen in stories like that). What actually makes him evil also varies from story to story: sometimes it's because he bathes in the blood of the pure and the innocent to keep himself eternally young (this would be from one of the stories only told to the big kids), sometimes it's because he eats children who don't listen to their parents (this would be from one of the stories told to kids big and small), but there's one constant to all of the stories: he never dies in any of them, but the hero manages to trick him into falling into an eternal slumber. As for the poison ivy trick, I'm going to take your word for it.
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Aug 26, 2015 20:53
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Allie "Soooo.." she says as she picks up her dagger, "Who's up for visiting the barrow?"
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Aug 26, 2015 21:12
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Hendrick Hendrick looks at the running man and whistles quietly. "Never seen anyone run that fast with an arrow in the chest before. You did a real number on him, Jacoby. "
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Aug 27, 2015 15:44
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Jacoby "Well, I am the witch in these parts," he says proudly. "It's part of the job."
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Aug 27, 2015 15:50
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Allie "And you really make that hat work."
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Aug 27, 2015 18:42
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Jerald 8/12 I snatch up the relics and hand them to Jacoby. What do they look like, anyway? Then, I turn towards the barrow and start walking, saying, "We can jab on the way, but if Rolf is still there, we should get a move on." I keep a quick pace, eager to reach the barrow, but worried about what we'll find there.
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Aug 27, 2015 19:38
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The relics are a mix of many different types of jewelry, including... you know what, show, don't tell! Here's a couple of neat pictures I found of Saxon jewelry on the internet!   That sort of thing. Most of them seem like pieces of jewelry, although some of them seem like they might carry some religious significance. EXEUNT STAGE LEFT ENTER STAGE RIGHT AT THE BARROW MOUND The actual Barrow Mounds are very easy to find for you. Problem is, there's loads of them. The Barrow Mounds are a series of hills just North of town beyond Greenbeard Forest, some of the hills fashioned as tombs for ancient kings and local heroes. How would you go about finding King Osric's barrow?
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Aug 27, 2015 19:52
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Jerald 8/12 Once we get to the burial mound, I look over to Jacoby and ask, "So, do the stories have any hints here?" While I ask, I think about it myself. Think about old stories: 1d20 12
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Aug 31, 2015 03:00
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Jerald tries to think of some old story that might help them locate the crypt of King Osric, but nothing seems to ring a bell. The only thing you can think of is that as a King he would've been buried in one of the big mounds, and only three of the mounds stand out as larger than the others. Coincidentally, one of them is the one where Victor had his accident some time ago. It's a long shot, but it couldn't hurt to check, right?
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Aug 31, 2015 08:27
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Jacoby Jacoby looks around, checking for, well, anything that might jostle a memory. Memory jostle: 1d20=2
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Aug 31, 2015 14:53
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Jacoby jostles his memory and recalls another of Zabitha's more bizarre lessons: she had given Jacoby a book of local kings and their genealogies and sat him down until he could recite all of them from memories. Included in that very same book was a hand-drawn map of Zabitha's making marking where each of said kings was buried on the mounds. You never really understood why she made you study the names and burial sites of a bunch of dead old dudes, but it sort of makes sense now in the light of her having said "It'll be important if you ever have to meet one of them." With this knowledge recently recalled, Jacoby is able to direct the group to one of the larger mounds. As you approach the mound from behind another hill you can make out the barrow mound from the distance: a large hill with a cairn of stones erected in front of a simple hole on the side of the hill, apparently recently blocked by a single large rock acting as a door of sorts. Said rock has since been moved to the side. An inscription on top of the entrance simply states "OSRIC REX TEUTONICUS". A pair of skeletons, carrying armaments similar to the ones you saw on the skeletons who attacked Neuenburg yesterday, guard the entrance. Actually, guard is a bit of a misnomer: they aren't exactly looking around, just standing there, immobile, their gazes fixed forward towards the cairn of standing stones in front of the barrow. Also, Victor and Jerald recognize this mound as the one where Victor had his unfortunate accident. You can't see the exact spot where the earth gave way under Victor's feet, but by your reckoning it's one the far side of the hill from where you are standing. What do you do?
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Aug 31, 2015 16:52
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Hendrick "They, uh, don't seem to be hostile. Maybe they haven't noticed us yet..."
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Aug 31, 2015 23:09
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Allie "I'm fine with the not being noticed. Any suggestions?"
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Aug 31, 2015 23:46
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Jacoby "Uh, well...maybe we could try talking to them? We have the charms, maybe we could request an audience?"
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Sep 1, 2015 15:25
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If you want not to be seen, the terrain affords enough cover and concealment for you to approach the mound from behind so as to get to the place where Victor fell through the mound. As for the skeletons, you are still far enough away for them that it is entirely possible they simply have not seen (when you get down to it, how does something without any eyes actually see?) you yet. Parlaying is an option, but if these skeletons are anything like the ones that attacked town yesterday, you suspect that they won't be very talkative.
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Sep 1, 2015 15:55
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So, which is it: Try not to be seen by approaching the Barrow from behind (hoping that the entrance which Victor found is still there). or Parlay with the skeletons to request an audience with Osric by using the relics as leverage.
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Sep 2, 2015 07:50
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Hendrick "Let's sneak around and look for another way in. Somehow I don't think trying to reason with the restless dead is going to work out."
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Sep 2, 2015 08:02
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Jerald 8/12 I whisper back, "Sounds fine to me." sneak: 1d20 18 TROMP TROMP TROMP TROMP
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Sep 2, 2015 13:59
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Jerald misses the group stealth roll by one (on account of your effective Dexterity of 17 for your own Stealth skill and Allie and Hendrick helping)! The group manages to sneak to the back of the Barrow with relative ease. However, once you actually get there Jerald is quite surprised to find that the hole wasn't quite where he thought it was. He suddenly disappears into the earthen hole, making a lot of noise in the process, and eventually finds himself at the bottom. Test Dexterity to see if you land softly! You are in a very dark place, the only light being a pillar of sunlight emanating from the hole from which you dropped in. Meanwhile, the rest of the group sees Jerald disappear into a hole in the ground, followed by (probably) a lot of loud cursing and general commotion. Immediately the clickity clack of boney footsteps starts to emanate from the direction of the Barrow's entrance.
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Sep 2, 2015 15:59
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Hendrick "Well, poo poo. So much for the stealthy approach." Hendrick gestures towards the open hole. "Quickly, get in, everyone!"
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Sep 2, 2015 17:28
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 15:58 |
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Okay, this is not really a combat, but since the actual order of people acting is important we'll be using initiative, so the order of actions is Allie, Hendrick, Victor and Jacoby. On your action you can either choose to go in quickly or to go in carefully, or to stay behind. Going in quickly is very fast: you'll be at the bottom of the hole at the end of your action. However, you'll have to test Dexterity to land on your feet. Going in carefully carries no risk, but it's much slower: until the end of this turn, you'll block the way and no one else will be able to enter carefully. If a person decides to go in quickly behind a person entering carefully, failure on the Dexterity test not only means that you hurt yourself going down, but you accidentally take the person climbing down with you. So, Allie, do you get down quickly or carefully? e: The enemy won't arrive until next turn, FIY.
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Sep 2, 2015 17:48
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