DM themed play-by-post D&D game : STORY THREAD

[beowuuf]

Westian and Falkor came to the third alcove together. After the Age of the Fighter, the golden age, sadly came the Age of the Thief. As the races forgot their common enemy the dragon, and as the races settled in to the world and drew up borders, they began to see the differences between each other. They also began to see the world as too small for their ambitions. Each race grew jealous of the land or abilities or treasures of the other, and thus politics and war were born to the world. It is said that some High Lords took sides, and picked certain races or nations and favoured them. And some High Lords
turned their back on the world, already seeing it too small no matter the outcome. Only one High Lord remained connected to the world and yet aloof from its politics - the Grey Lord.

It is said that the races even grew jealous of the High Lords themselves, and strove to steal the secrets of magic from them. And thus one age of strife was brought to an end, and what was to become a greater one began - the Age of the Wizard.

The piece itself depicts this by having all the various races separated by the alcove itself as the central piece. There are bold lines drawn radiating from the alcove, showing the divisions of the world. Each race is shown giving black looks to the other races, and in many cases reaching a hand across the boundary, or stretching a foot while eyes are turned elsewhere. In some divisions a taller figure can clearly be seen, depicting a High Lord. Westian can easily spot a depiction of Lord Larethian amongst the elves. While the depiction is certainly flattering, nevertheless it is an uneasy thing to see one's god depicted in art of unknown opinion. Especially as the foot of Lord Larethian was very close to the border of the dwarven side. Perhaps just a case of the artist realising he had not left enough space.

Falkor, being smaller, was level with the alcove itself. While normally the alcoves had not interested him nor taken his gaze, as he moved something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. There were sparkles deep in the alcove itself. Westian could have told Falkor that the alcoves were indeed heavily recessed, as they were designed to accommodate any objects that visitors to the Grey Lord should not take into the mage's presence. Not only outer cloaks and packs, but of course staves and two handed warblades!

As Falkor looked he realised a grey coloured cloak, interleaved with silver thread, had been left deeper in the alcove. It had probably been pushed deeper than the owner had meant by some other items, and forgotten when leaving.

Sadly, this last piece yielded no representations of runes of any kind.


Even though Ameena could still not detect any dangers through her scent, Haynuus still had that itch telling him something was wrong. Annoyingly, he still couldn't work out why!

[ian_scho]

Haynuus really stuck his ginormous black tongue[+] out now in frustration, he couldn't work out what was the matter. He scanned the room and entrances again to be sure that he had it all covered.

[+]Everything about Haynuus was a simple mix of human and orc. Skin colour, teeth, hair, even had half a John Wayne swagger that the orcs absurdley took to. Everything except two things. His tongue, and his testicles. Well his testicles are another story, but for some reason his tongue was big even for orc standards. It made communication difficult and an innocent yawn would simply scare to hell other intelligent beings when in his presence. It was a problem.

[Ameena]

Ameena looks toward the open doorway, then back up at the towering giant that is Haynuus.
"What does it matter if they close behind us?" she asks. "It's not as if we're leaving anything important behind. Is it?"
She glances in the direction of the room they all woke up in. The only other way out of there would be through the apparently impassable grate. But since it's apparently impassable, there would seem to be no reason to return to that room. Likewise to this one, unless the engraved alcoves can actually be used in some way, though Ameena doubts it - they seem inert, possessing no objects, no whiff of Magic or anything else. Just cold stone, like the rest of this place.

[oh_brother]

While Westian was waiting for Falkor to finish examining the alcove he walked idly over to the one alcove he had not yet seen. Since the wizard had examined it already, and since it clearly depicted the Age of the Wizard, he did not pay it the same attention he gave to the others.

He turned to the two companions behind him, but only caught the end of their conversation. Not knowing what they were talking about, and not wanting to ask them to repeat themselves, him simply listened. He was glad to see that they seemed to be getting on well - a good group spirit was vital for morale. He was also pleasantly surprised: when he had woken up and seen the creatures who were lying around him he would never thought that so soon they would be working together. What were the chances that a randomly placed half-orc, murafu, halfling and half-elf would join together and form what appeared to be a relatively strong group? The odds of that happening were low enough to be insignificant. Another pointer that seemed to scream that they had been chosen to enter this dungeon.

[ian_scho]

Irritated at himself now, he put his tongue away and shouted "We should move now, come." but would wait for all to finish what they are doing and to arrange themselves. There was no time to discuss their findings or share their knowledge of thaumaturgy.

It was time to find out the source of the wood being broken or where the trolin came from. Haynuus would be positioned at the front, probably with Westian and Ameena and Falkor behind.

[money]

Falkor reached into the alcove and pulled out the grey coloured cloak and began to examine it. As the others were too busy in discussion they hadn't noticed and now were beckoning him onwards. Shouting back, in order to gain a few minutes to examine the cloak "Give me just a few minutes more, and then I will come"

Falkor was also getting a little annoyed, he had seen so much in this room and needed to discuss with Westian - but he seemed keen to move on with the others, their discussions might have to wait he thought rather sadly.

Now, back to the cloak...

[beowuuf]

The moment Falkor took the cloak from the alcove, an unnatural wailing rent the air. It stopped as soon as it started, but this went unnoticed as to the left of the group, the wooden door dropped down hard with an echoing crash, the two chains that propelled its movement snapping from the top to fall loose on the ground.

Infront of Haynuus, the closest doorframe suddenly revealed its door. The door seemed to be of heavy stone, descending from above in the frame. Luckily only a foot of it revealed itself before it ground to a halt. Somehow the door had become squint in the frame, and could not - for now - fall further. However, it was a solid stone door, and the grinding sound and dust spoke volumes on how long this state of affairs would last.

Haynuus (and his tonuge) knew that the danger he had intuited had come to pass, though how he had known of it was a mystery. More importantly, they had only a few moments to act before the door before them sealed shut!

[oh_brother]

Westian took a second or two to react due to the shock. Then spurred into action he shouted "quickly, we have to go through". Dashing forward he picked up the spare club and ran through both archways, stopping one step beyond the second arch.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus followed in step, accidentally biting his tongue as he ducked under the half closed doorway. A poor reward for such a talented tongue. "Ughlaahh! Thuckin' thoor 'th clothin'!"

Remembering that he had the torch in his left hand, he lowered it to be under the door so that the rest could see the way through. Meanwhile he positioned himself at the front of the long corridor ahead, with more open doors. "We should run down there TOGETHER." The salty taste of his own blood in his mouth reminded him what would happen if they got this wrong.

[money]

Realising that Westian had fleed the scene, and Haynuus and Ameena were sure to follow, Falkor, with cloak in hand started to move towards the others...quickly.

He's thoughts were simple, it was a heavy stone door, not likely to be effected by the weight of a rushing halfling, so the time of being delicate and quiet had long since past!

[Ameena]

Twitching an ear at Haynuus's impatience, though possibly agreeing with it to some extent, Ameena nearly jumps three paces into the air as a sudden noise bursts into being from...somewhere. Then everything seems to happen in slow motion, as usually happens when Ameena realises she needs to move quickly - the wooden door slides down within its frame and crashes to the ground with a noise she barely registers. Then a second door appears within view at the top of the frame she and Haynuus are standing beside.
Without even really thinking about it, she darts through the door almost as quickly as she sees it start to fall. Even though it doesn't yet fall far, Ameena is already past it and standing a few steps away on the other side before it stops moving. She hears Westian and Haynuus yelling that they should get through the door. Well, she hardly needed telling...

[beowuuf]

The group run through to the doorway, even as the stone door grinds downwards again. Again, it judders to a halt. The original sounds are left to echo, and the group get used to the new surroundings. The walls beyond the doorways have two peculiar features.

The first is that they are cracked and pitted. Unlike the well tended and clean looking walls previously, these walls look as one would expect from a dungeon. It is very possible these are the original walls left by Lord Chaos when he twisted the Grey Lord's domain. The reason to believe this, and the second peculilar thing about the walls, are that they glow.

The dull illumination previously seen does not come from any particular source. Certainly, there are no strange microbes nor sources for the light that gently shines except each and every chipped grey brick of the wall itself.

BOOM!

Incase any on the group had wondered if they had been to hasty rushing through the door, with a sudden cracking the door corrected its fit and fell quickly down to smash on the ground, sealing the way back with finality. A small dust cloud was raised, and the 'boom' was magnified painfully in the small corner the party had found themselves in.

As all recovered, and Haynuus and Westian looked around the corridor they found themselves in beyond the second doorway, they saw the wall looked the same. Bathed in its glow, it was easy to see the corridor carried on for about 40 feet and ended in what had once been a wooden door, no doubt as sturdy as that previously seen. It was smashed with planks strewn in the corridor, barely a frame left. Beyond the door was a similar glow, and what appeared to be a small room filled with...something wooden on the floor. By the right side of the door itself, on this side of it, appeared to be some small recess in the wall.

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Suddenly a burst of blue zlight tinged in flashes of swirling colours exploded around the stone door that had just closed. Three times in rapid succession this happened, and each time the stone of the centre of the door seemed to grow dark. The unnatural sound possessed no echo, and left an oninous silence after it and the flashes stopped.

It was only when the feeling was gone that the party realised that some oppressive weight had been on their soul soon after the stone door had slammed shut. Whatever had appeared behind the door and attacked it had been palpable in its evil. Westian felt himself shaking, and he was furthest from the door.

Now, however, the group felt the weight shift from their soul. Whatever had been behind the door had now gone. But for how long?


And that's an update! Can everyone roll me a perception roll? In additional, can Falkor roll me a knowledge (arcana) check? If any of you wish to apply any further knowledge or perception to what you've just experienced, let me know.

Westian, you are shaken by the feeling, give me a will save to avoid it becoming shaken in the game mechanics sense! I'll let you add +1 for your clerical level to the check.

Map will be supplied when I get home, but basically corridor carries on left, ends in a smashed door, small recess (about hand sized) visible on the wall, a small room beyond the door.

Nothing bad is going to happen, so feel free to also give me general actions aswell as immediate reactions to your new situation. Do you stay and talk, check out the old door, check out the corrior, check out the small room? Let me know!

[beowuuf]

Map:

[Ameena]

Ameena looks around, nose constantly twitching. What now? Hopefully no more horrible, sudden noises or she'll end up a nervous wreck within a few hours.
She looks around at the others. Craning her neck up to see Haynuus, he doesn't look too bad. Neither does Falkor, who fortunately is only slightly taller than she is. She notices he's holding some kind of large cloth which he definitely didn't have before, and she is about to ask him about it when she notices Westian.
She looks up at the half-elf and sees how shaken he looks.
"Are you alright?" she asks with some concern. "Look, we got through the door easily enough. None of us got left behind. What's the matter?"


OOC - Right, the requested Perception roll...I shall wield my lovely new purple d20 and score...HAHAHA woot, 20! Ka-chow! Have some of that. Okay I like this d20 . I expect I'll need to roll some kind of roll when Ameena gets back to asking Falkor about the cloak (she'll want to sniff it, and if it doesn't smell bad she'll want to hold it and have a good proper sniff through it), but for now she is making sure Westian is okay .

[oh_brother]

Westian looked down at the murafu, his mouth open and his eyes wide. He tried to pull himself together. He could tell that the concern was genuine, and that made him feel somewhat better. "I don't know, something, something awful was behind that door. It felt like pure evil - utter, absolute evil...." His voice trailed off, his eyes still wide and staring into the middle distance. An involuntary shudder ran through him, and he pulled his cloak tighter around his body.

[Ameena]

Ameena looks at Westian. She doens't really know him all that well. She's not really very much higher than his knees. They're of two very different species. But he's scared. She knows what that feels like. And she knows what makes her feel better when she's not feeling so good.
She steps right up to Westian, and around to one side of him, then leans against his leg and moves her head up and down against it, nuzzling him in a way murafu do to comfort each other, or just as a friendly gesture of companionship. She realises this might get her in trouble, but they're probably going to be down here for some time - she can't not be herself for too long. It would just start to feel...wrong. And she doesn't like to see people looking upset.

[beowuuf]

Westian and Haynuus, being far from the door, did not see anything out of the ordinary. Westian had his own problems, his spiritual nature opening him up the worst of the group to the shadow of the evil behind the door. And perhaps Haynuus was still recovering from the thickness of his tongue.

Ameena could smell the scent of magic very strongly. If the strength of the scent indicated the strength of the magic, it must be powerful. Although Ameena did not herself have direct knowledge of magics. Even when the magic, and the strange feeling thing behind the door that had invoked invoked the magic, were both gone there was still a faint trace of magic in the air. Certainly it seemed to come from the direction of the cloak that Falkor held....

Ameena also thought she saw something unusual. As the door earlier had done the eye-twisting illusion of blackening, it also looked less solid. Dimly, a figure could almost be made out. Not a monster, but a simple man in robes. The face she saw for a moment did not look evil, if one were to imagine an evil face. It looked tired, and sad. And surprisingly young.

Still, Westian was in distress, which was apparently more important than such matters for now.

It was left to Falkor to realise what was actually happening to the door. He recognised the physical appearance of a concentration of the negative material. Frustratingly, Falkor could not recall what it was called nor how to summon it himself, even as he recalled times in his younger days when he had invoked its power merely for play. The negative material, despite its name, was not harmful nor destructive. In opposition to the power and seriousness of normal magic, the negative material always seemed...playful.

Where its energy crackled books would slam shut or blow open, scrolls would unfurl or roll up, doors would open or close, and that which was on or off would be switched off or on. Falkor could still remember being reprimanded for the prank of making a substitute teacher constantly blink during a lesson thanks to a few quite invocations.

Against a securely locked door, the negative energy would have no ability to affect a change. It was capricious and lasted barely a moment in this plane. Yet still someone of skill had apparently tried it. More worryingly, given the darkening of the door, they had almost succeeded in altering the state of the door! Surely such a feat was beyond normal magic? Surely such a feat bordered on...High Lord magic?

Falkor saw the solid door become less solid, and saw a dim figure illuminated by their own magics for a moment. He didn't note as much about the figure's features, but noticed the figure was not hunched in an evil way. Infact, the figure held the limb that was invoking the negative material as if trying to stop it.

After the oppressive feeling had lifted, Falkor realised that if the figure behind the door had truly disappeared then this too bordered on High Lord magic. Normal mortals could only dream of teleporting without a powerful artifact or without relying on stationary deposits of magical energy invoked by the High Lords in olden times. What was going on?

Once again it was up to Haynuus to realise two of the most important things. Firstly, that he was still hungry. And secondly, he noticed that his tongue seemed to already be healing. Interesting.


There we go, given that I've got all the dice rolls in, I could update again to let you all properly post a fully informed character post.

So, you have roll results, and a map. Enjoy! After the break-necked pace of updates, I'll say you can settle down, post at leasure, and I will update tomorrow evening as per normal schedule. Feel free to make general plans in the OOC instead.

[oh_brother]

Westian was unnerved by what he had sensed, and felt comfort from the murafu. “Thank you Ameena”, and he hugged her back, somewhat awkwardly due to the size difference. It felt good to see that even in this awful dungeon somebody cared.

Still the eerie feeling remained with him. Why should evil like that exist in the world? The Grey Lord aside, he had never felt a similar powerful force of good in the world. Lord Larethian himself had abandoned this world to...
Lord Corellon Larethian has not abandoned this world; Westian corrected his thinking just in time. He has moved beyond it to better look down on his beloved flock, and protect them from harm.

“I don’t want to stay close to this door; I think we should move onwards as soon as possible.” Whatever lay ahead surely could not be as bad as what they were leaving behind.

[Ameena]

Ameena is grateful, and perhaps slightly surprised that Westian returns the physical contact - she wasn't sure he'd be happy about it. She steps away from him again and sniffs at the door. Magic. Again, the smell of Magic. And that shape she'd noticed...a human, perhaps? He hadn't looked too happy. But now he was gone.
At Westian's suggestion that they move on, she looks around cautiously.
"Maybe we shouldn't go yet." she says. "There might be...creatures...I mean, there's nothing nearby now. I can't hear or smell anything. We can talk now, I think. I...well, I think I smell things better than any of you - at least, I've never noticed other species like yourselves able to smell Magic. But I keep smelling it. It was very strong just now, and I saw...a human, I think, behind the door. And..."
She turns to Falkor and leans over, sniffing at the cloak he still holds.
"This smells of Magic too." she says. "Where did it come from?"

[ian_scho]

Haynuus could smell fear, in a figurative sense. But to see it coming from the half-elf when nothing ominous presented itself unnerved him a little. While his nose was unable to detect the cocktail of hormones and sweat emitting from the half-elf[+], the draining of blood from Westian's face said it all.

"There is evil here." And with that he drew with a broad sweeping motion the symbol of SAR on the closed door with the torch. The ash of the burnt wood left a black imprint as he drew the circles and the horns. It was a rune that he wished he never knew.

[+] His tongue would be able to detect the mineral content of sodium and potassium in the sweat however. He'd occasionally broach to his companions that with a simple lick he'd be able to predict the sort of day they're having from his taste buds, and offer advice to balance their condition.

[money]

Falkor felt sick, seeing the sign Haynuus had drawn he recalled the SAR rune. How did Haynuus know this? Was he a magicion? no - that couldn't be, he certainly didn't fit the stero type... but then neither did that tounge of his. Falkor looked a the rune for a few moments longer then quickly turned his attention to the cape. It looked like an ordinary cape but given what just happened he felt that there would be more to this then meets the eye.

Taking another breath he started to examine the cape in detail.

[beowuuf]

Falkor noted with interest that despite the nearness of the torch now, the cloak did not seem to be highlighted by the additional illumination, swallowing the additional light in its folds. This certainly spoke if it being magical in nature. Similarly the very stitching of the item spoke this. There was a way magicians had of stitching, which was functional and yet not that of normal manufacture. The stitching of a magician allowed for ease of imbedding power directly into the fabric without distraction of the mechanical creation of the cloak. Besides, a stitch did not need to be strong when a cloak was held together by mana!

Falkor had no recollection of anything similar in his experience. Dare someone wear it and see if results manifest?

[money]

Curiosisty got the better of Falkor, as if drawn by something invisible, he pulled the cloak over his sholders, tucked it in to make it fit and braced himself...

[ian_scho]

Haynuus was amused with Falkor's delicate movements in putting on a simple light cloak. Of course he had next to no experience of magic weapons, armour, or curses as his poor background afforded clubs, spears and something exciting when you embed crocodiles teeth in a wooden sword (similar to a Macuahuitl).

When Westian was ready, and he was, he advanced down past the glowing walls, the recess and into the open room. He knew that the inquisitive magic users wanted to examine everything, yet it was important that they push on with no spare food nor water to hand. He only entered the room just past the doorway, allowing the torchlight to illuminate the corridoor where they came from and the new open space.

"Hmmm what have we here."

[oh_brother]

Westian walked warily down the corridor with Haynuus. As they turned the corner he stood to the left of the half-orc with his club held behind his head, ready to swing. He peered into the newly illuminated room.

[beowuuf]

A mini-update for Haynuus (and Westian). Ameena can either follow Haynuus and see the same thing, or stay with Falkor and see that nothing happens (and examine the cloak). The next full update will cover what people do in the room, or in the corridor



Haynuus managed to walk through the timbers without a problem, Westian following, to see what was beyond the door. And what was beyond the door was an interesting sight.

The room seemed to be some form of staging area for adventurers. A staging area because, set in the middle of one of the walls, was an ominous dark stairwell. A stairwell that could be nothing else, given the items in the room, except a way down into what had been Lord Chaos's dungeons. The fact Trolins must have come from there also gave a clue the stairs did not lead to a wine cellar.

The shelves and tables in the room had obviously been smashed up by the aggressive Trolins in a rage before they had taken their frustrations out on the door. Still, there were many soft and wooden things still visable around the room that had stayed intact.

In the top left corner had been some rack for tall items and some pegs for items to hang on. Much had been destroyed, but various poles were still partially intact. More importantly, straps and belts could be seen entangled in the wood, and certainly the shapes of backpacks and pouches could be made out.

A cupboard in the middle of the wall opposing the stairs had been tipped over onto it's front, and there were fragments that spoke of glass under it.

A cherub-faced fountain in one corner of the room was, sadly, not working. The bowl of it was dry, which was odd as there was a small pool of water underneath the fountain which spoke of water having been present recently.

On the opposing wall, in the furthest corner from the door, was what had been a table. It was now a collection of splintered panels and splayed legs on he floor. Visible in the mess were some wrapped packages, and what Haynuus assumed were waterskins. It seemed a safe assumption, given that one had burst and that, even now, a small river of water flowed from the table and gently undulated towards the stairs, a wet trail descending the steps.

There was certainly no obvious sign of a cowering Trolin, the room was too destroyed to have any hiding places. Well, except for the overturned cupboard...

Just a reminder, Haynuus and Falkor have essentially 'moved', just waiting for Westian and Ameena's action to complete this first update properly. Everyone can post further actions in the OOC thread for consideration. I'll post some guidelines on the contents of the room for everyone there too.

Edit: Ok, cause of a double post actually Westian has moved too. So just awaiting Ameena's action.

[Ameena]

Ameena watches Falkor put on the cloak. Westian and Haynuus don't seem particularly interested, as they both move on to explore further down the corridor. But being a murafu, Ameena's innate curiosity kicks in, and she noses about the cloak as Falkor stands there in it. She looks and sniffs carefully, trying to detect any hint of...well, anything.

OOC - So, rolling the d20 for Appraise...11...plus Appraise bonus of 4...so, 15 total.

[beowuuf]

Ameena notes the unusual stitching on the cloak, although she is not aware of the reason for it. What she can tell is that it is a fine piece, and care has been taken in both its manufacture and the choice of materials. It is soft, and seems to have a thin double layer that could provide warmth. It would certainly be considered valuable even if it were not suspected of being magical. Would such care taken over its construction imply it would possess powerful magic?

Scent wise, Ameena can mostly smell the magic of the cloak itself. Again, does such a strong scent imply power? Getting used to the stronger scent, two further scents are detectable beneath. The first seems to be the collection of bodily odors she would associate with a human. The second is odd, and it takes her a moment to realise what it is. Just as there is a different between the smell of say metal because something is metallic, and the smell of metal because something metallic was around, there is a second scent of magic on the cloak. Not native to the cloak, but a scent as if the cloak had been in the presence of magic.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus got to work as if on autopilot. Firstly, pulling out and tidying up four backpacks. Sifting through the mess was one thing, intending to adjust the straps to the size of each individual was another! His half-orc fingers found the work a little difficult, and on more than one occasion you would see Haynuus loop a strap over one of his exaggerated canines in an attempt to tighten it for a smaller member of the party. Poor Ameena would be handed the backpack with a strap soaked in saliva.

Next would be waterskins. Starting with Haynuus, Westian, Falkor, then Ameena he would find a bota for each one (if he could).

He'd do all of this without looking for anything of value in the room.

Next up, he'd be asking how they get the water working!... What? Westian needs help tipping picking up the cupboard? OK!

InvisibleCastle.com is dead again... Flash chat says ian_scho rolls 1d20 and gets 12

[money]

Falkor continued along the corridor, he was interested in the room at the end that seemed to bring a lot of excitement to Haynuus who was frantically trying to eat backpacks, Falkor should have thought this strange - but given Haynuus actions so far in this place it seemed somewhat normal. As he walked along the corridor, looking from left to right at the walls he noticed the strange recess. Falkor's curiosity had already caused the group to be stuck behind a large stone door and almost got them trapped but no-one had blamed him, frowned upon him in fact they almost seemed unaware of his presence most of the time.. Still, as Haynuus was pre-occupied with eating, Westian searching the room and Ameena following down the corridor towards him curiosity got the better of him again and he placed his hand firmly into the recess..

Just as he was doing this he also noticed that the Murafu had started to sniff him - Now Halflings were by no means the smelliest of creatures and although Falkor could no longer remember washing this morning or any morning as all was still a bit fuzzy - he was pretty sure he didn't smell to bad... certainly not as bad as the Haynuus - although a smile broke across his face as he recalled the careful grooming routine that Haynuus continued to display...