Zilean's Revenge

((Right. So he is just flippin nuts. Good to know.))

Zarhon if Skitter can teleport into the tunnel (that can fit a Medium sized snake but not a Small sized Kobold somehow) where there is space to move, he does so and tells Tiffany to go find the others. If not he'll just try and call Matilda back.

Ramsus wrote:((Right. So he is just flippin nuts. Good to know.))

Nah, man. He's seen some things, man, and some stuff!
I debated taking out the obvious references, but decided the flavor outweighed the "too crazy".

Horizon didn't respond. He slid down the wall and sat, clutching his Kukri close to his chest, staring into space. The barest shiver ran down his spine, before he regained his composure. He sheathed the Kukri, grabbed his helmet, and waited.

Just to clarify, we aren't playing in the Elder Scrolls universe. :p

Rolf

Perception -> 13

As Rolf open the door, he sees that the door handle the cultist was gripping now has a severed arm holding onto it. Lizzie's cubs are playing with what you identify as a lung-wing around, in a manner similar to a cat playing with a half-dead mouse. Lizzie's head is partially covered in blood and she is resting. As he enters, she diverts her attention to you, but quickly ignores you again, once she recognizes you. He doesn't see the black figure anywhere. What he you does see is *exactly* what happened to the cultist. The High Priest will not be pleased. Nor will be whoever has to clean this room, considering how far the cultist was "spread" and the rooms new color...

Endurance -> 5

Rolf suddenly has the overwhelming urge to vomit.

Skitter

Perception -> 9

You shift into a shadow to move yourself into the crawlspace. After about a minute of crawling, you enter a very small cavern. There is a single hole/gorge leading downwards. Looking down it, you can see that there is a massive cavern underneath. Matilda is slithering down one of the walls downwards, her serpentine form and experience aiding her descent. The terrain is pretty tricky, following her down might require some climbing skills to keep yourself from falling over an edge the moment you materialize, and it's a pretty long way down. At the bottom of the cavern, you can see some lights, but not much else.

Skitter yells back what he sees to Tiffany and follows it up by saying, "Hopefully we'll meet again!" and begins the descent, knowing he doesn't have too much to fear even if he falls. He can always just teleport before he hits the ground and change downward momentum to forward momentum or even cancel it out entirely but, that's a bit trickier. (I forget what number bonuses we were using to signify training of various sorts. Whatever the high one would be. What kind of assassin can't climb? *roll* ....nat 1. Well, at least that will be a really funny reason to explain Skitter's absence if I wake up and don't have internet tomorrow.)
((Edit: Yes, I know nat 1 in 3.5/4th ed D&D isn't a critical fail on skills but, still...it's a 1. Even if that bonus is +8 and the DC is 10 he failed.))

Ramsus wrote:((Edit: Yes, I know nat 1 in 3.5/4th ed D&D isn't a critical fail on skills but, still...it's a 1. Even if that bonus is +8 and the DC is 10 he failed.))

It is in 3.5, or at least I've always played it that way.

Charm Person is totally an Enchantment btw. As someone who has played a Beguiler, I'd know the difference between the two (what with those two schools being pretty much all you have access to).

Edit: And autofails on a 1 for skills has always been a home rule in D&D. Pony Tales is the only system I've seen where it's actually built in that way.

Bronymous wrote: It didn't matter that he knew literally nothing about magic- he sounded like he did, and that's what matters.

I thought we had deduced that he is out of his mind? For this particular bit, I'm running something I'm familiar with- Elder Scrolls rules of magic, which of course do not exist in this universe. Supposed to be a major focal point of his delirium.

"No, no, no," Rolf replied. "The Enchantment school of spells affects the minds of others to influence their behavior. There are eight schools of arcane magic, see, Abjuration, Conjura...you don't even care, do you?" Rolf was starting get his focus back. "Oh, and don't use that "magic is a crutch" line on any High Wizards you meet. They'd just summon a boulder for you to get stuck under and say "Let me know how that martial talent works out for you"...not the most thorough rebuttal, I'll admit, but you get the idea. Still, you've got a point. When someone is offering to heal you, whether through magic or surgery, you're essentially putting your life in their hands, and honest flaws could be as damaging as malevolent intent. I imagine that doesn't sound particularly appealing to you. Still, if you'd like to be walking anytime soon, you're going to have to trust the clerics. I could offer to blast them with my frost wand if they do something stupid, if you like."

Going to bed.

"Catching on, huh? Nah, I think I'll just threaten to stab them repeatedly in the neck if they fuck up my leg anymore." He couldn't argue anymore, though. The pain in his leg was growing, his foot was going numb, the bolt had probably damaged the bone. On top of that, the cauterization stopped the bleeding and sealed the surface wound, but deep in the leg it was still fresh. Sepsis was a real concern at this point, and if that didn't kill him than infection would definitely ruin his leg. Maybe magic wasn't that bad an option, when the situation calls for it.

But he would never admit that to Rolf. So instead, he asked him something else. "So, the plan was to use the dovey thing to ring the bells to summon the High priest and paladins back to town. Did you ever get around to that, or...?"

Edit: Remembered something.

...So Tiffany, you wouldn't happen to feel an urge to go check out the dormitories, would you? Maybe to check ups with Sister Ivy and the paladin? Get some help as Skitter falls down the hole?

It looks like Skitter's sidequest has gone off to a rocky start. But with perseverance and a little luck, he may gain Matilda's trust and they'll become best friends.

Oh, and if you run into any cultists down there, take a quick look around and then HURRY BACK. You may have glitched into the next dungeon, and we don't want you setting off aggro or activating an important cutscene without backup.

Gee, hope that isn't the case. We need to hit town and resupply anyway. Also get paid. We need to do that too. In fact, that first.

Assuming the town isn't under siege and overrun by undead. Plus, who's paying us? You guys already got rewards from the temple.

Also, I edited my last post. Go check, Lynt.

True but, it's not like all the clerics know that.

"You didn't hear it ring, did you?" said Rolf. "Well, you wouldn't hear it anyway if you were undead. And considering you were able to enter this place without disintigrating, I think I can safely rule that out.

But to answer your question, I was mainly hoping to make sure we had dealt with all the cultists before sending out the signal saying, "Something's gone wrong. Set the bombs off now." I think between all of our group, we've covered most of the temple. There's one or two rooms in the attic that I still need to check, but I know a...shortcut to the bells once we get to the wine ritual room."

Sweetie Belle: Raargh, I'm so bored! *scoots* When is Zarhon going to post the next update?

"Aaaaaand there go the catacombs," says Rolf. "Well, the good news is that it doesn't affect the wards all that much, so we should be safe. Although the wards apparently don't stop zombies from being formed inside the...temple. Shit! There was a dead cultist in the Great Hall before it collapsed! That purple smoke's probably going to do it's thing soon!"

He leaned Horizon next to the doorway leading into the dormitories. "Sorry to make you leg it the rest of the way, but I need to see if I can get that cultist away from the wreckage! Follow the hall around the bend, and knock four times on the door at the end. Tell the healthy paladin to get back over here, then wait for Sister Ivy to heal you (or Brother Silas if he's back). Once you're healed, head back out here in case we have...problems."

He walked to the edge of the depression in the Great Hall, looking around for the dead cultist. He yelled up at the balcony. "Better get something to cover your mouths. Purple zombie smoke will probably get in here soon, and I think it might be toxic to the living, to say nothing of the dead. Oh, and just out of curiosity, how far do the wards extend from the temple? Are they directly at the door, or some distance outside?"

He looked carefully around the wreckage. Why couldn't anything just go his way without more complications?"

Roll for Perception.

Horizon lay still for a moment. "You know.... Now that I think about it, that bomb I found was probably still a threat." He was speaking mostly to himself at this point, but yelled after Rolf. "Hey! You think the bells might be a good idea now? Or should we wait until the Belltower comes down around our ears so you don't have to climb back up?"

Horizon did his best to stand and hobble to go find the clerics.

Rolf

Perception -> 2

Deeeerp Rolf don't see anything new of note, apart from random damage around the floor and such. Lizzie climbed up to the left balcony and is trying to reach her cub, which is walking on a wall above her, jumping playfully. The various holes around the room are emitting black smoke, stinking up the hall with the smell of burning. The cleric yells back at you that he has no idea, since he's never actually seen the wards go "into effect" until today, but if its anything like that window, it's probably pressed to the front of the door or going "through" it. He also asks what just happened and how much trouble are they in.

Horizon

Horizon meets up with the rest of the priests uninterrupted. The floor of the dormitories appears to be undamaged, compared to the Grand Hall. They ask you what happened and you explain the situation. The now-healthy paladin rushes over to Rolf. Ivy starts healing Horizon's leg. This will probably take a few minutes.

(You can choose a magic item now, same rules as before. You'll collect it you're healed.)

Edit: Gah, forgot Horizon spoke to Rolf first. Assume they had the conversation (post it) and Horizon went to get healed.

I'm assuming you meant post my response to Horizon's question before he left to get healed. Also, since "nothing's changed", I'm assuming that the cultist is still where he fell.

"If we're lucky, this bomb is the only thing really affected by the fire. I'll try getting everyone out of the main hall, then I'll go straight up and attach the dove to the bell, I promise."

Rolf thought about his last words to Horizon before he left. He had to keep calm. Things could have been a lot worse, and they still had some time to salvage things apparently.

"Apparently some cultists set up some bombs in the catacombs beneath the great hall," he yelled up at the cleric. "The fire must have gotten to them, causing them to detonate. The previous bomb we found emitted a purple smoke, but I'm only seeing black right now. I believe the smoke only reacts with the freshly dead, so as long as we get this cultist out of the way we should be fine. If you're mostly healed, starting tying the hands of the two cultists upstairs and we'll take them along to the dormitories with the others. Stay away from the center of the room, and we should be able to get everyone safely out of here."

He kept to the side of the great hall, not wishing to contemplate if the smoke reacted to the not-so-recently dead. He then slowly stepped toward the dead cultist and tried pulling him back to the side. If he was successful, he would drag him back behind the door leading to the dormitories. He quietly prayed that the floor wouldn't collapse beneath him.

Rolf

You cross the hall, avoiding any floor segment that looks damaged and drag the cultist away.

After discussing it with Brony, he's getting some gloves of arrow snaring, modified to be a constant effect, allowing him to catch+throw back projectiles (though they still need to actually hit), at a +3 roll. (Normally, he'd get a -5 or -8 penalty)