Dungeon Crawling (Day 2)

[The Inev]

Varstl's gaze is directed towards the figures, and the realization of his noise dawns visibly on his face. Nodding, he sets down his oversized pack slowly and deliberately, then unclasps the crossbow and bolts attached to the side of it. Brushing away leaves and twigs, he ever so gently loads one arrow before stowing the rest into a particularly large pocket in his vest, probably made for that purpose.

"Got it," he whisperers. "Just in case."

 

[Larenxis]

(Second page? An outrage!)

The cultists start to move around in a circle, and in between their flowing black robes you can see two figures lying on an altar. The rain starts to grow heavy again.

 

[Blayze]

Luja grimaces.

"Are they... sacrifices? Well, better them than us."

He readies his shortbow and notches an arrow, hoping to put it to better use this time around.

 

[Zemalac]

Zem puts a finger to his lips and whispers, "Wait for a moment...I want to try something." He begins to creep through the ruins, slipping from shadow to shadow, trying to get close enough for him to hear the cultists. A grin spread accross his features: a smile far more sinister than anything that had adorned his features thus far.

Spoiler

Rolled a 16 on Move Silently. I don't have access to my character sheet right now, so I'm not sure what the bonus is.

There were cultists. All well and good, but where there were cultists there were usually dark and forgotten powers as well. Powers that, he assumed, wouldn't mind being impersonated by little old Zem. He wanted to hear enough so that he could impersonate whatever these cultists worshipped.

 

[Larenxis]

You hear generic chanting from which you gather:
They worship the spirit of the Lich Emperor
They worship the power in this place that emanates from the Shard
They are channeling the power of the Shard to curse the blood of the sacrifices to feed to the roots as poison
They loathe the forest, as it hinders and restrains the power of the Shard
They only wished they had more people to sacrifice, but any fewer channelers and they would be less likely to succeed

 

[Zemalac]

Zem prepared his spells hiding behind a broken wall near the cultists. Two brief castings later and he was done.

Spoiler

Dancing lights and ghost sound
Also, for the below stuff: Bluff check, rolled a 13 +6 modifier, total 19

Light edged his form as he stepped out, leaping onto a shattered pillar beside the circle.
"BEHOLD!" he shouted, and his voice came from all around the cultists, spoken in the tones of the grave. "I have arrived in this place to respond to your valient efforts, sent by the Emperor of Death himself! I bring to you victory against the enroaching forest, BLOOD FOR THIS PESTILENTIAL GREENARY!" He raises his spear and shakes it in the air.

 

[Larenxis]

(Sorry, not enough bluff)

"Who dares interrupt this ceremony? Who dares to come into our midst as an impostor!?" The twenty-three robed men all turn to you. You can hear one of them mumble "How'd he get through the forest alone?" but nobody else seems to notice. And then, seemingly from everyone at once, "Attack!"

(Roll your initiatives, fellas. Since Zem's listening and speaking took some time, I will allow the rest of the party to have moved closer if they so wish. The cultists get 17.)

 

[Blayze]

Spoiler

Luja has moved forward 21ft during Zem's little speech. Given that the cultists were 80ft away to start with, that puts him 59ft away - and guess how far a shortbow can shoot without penalty?

Spoiler

Initiative roll: 5. Modifer: +6. Total: 11

While Zem was busy distracting the cultists, Luja had snuck forward as much as he dared. Caught off guard by the cultists' sudden declaration of Zem as an imposter, Luja fumbled around for a moment as he brought his shortbow to bear.

"Zem! Run! There's too many of 'em!"

Taking careful aim not to hit Zem, Luja fires off an arrow towards the cultists.

Spoiler

Certainly going to be a combat by the time Luja's action takes effect, so...
Ranged attack roll (Shortbow): 11. Modifier: +4. Firing into combat: -4. Total: 11.
Just in case that actually hit (Hell, there's enough cultists...)... Damage roll: 3. Modifier: -1. Total: 2.
Arrows remaining: 18/20.

 

[Zemalac]

Spoiler

And that would have been so cool if it had worked...ah well. Initiative roll of 3, +2 for a grand total of 5. Not a good position to be in, this.

Zem was more annoyed than anything else that the cultists hadn't fallen for his bluff. He dropped his arm and glared at them from behind his magical lights. "Fools," he muttered, his ghost sound spell making his voice speak from all around the cultists. "You might have lived, but noooooo...now I have to kill you all. All gods damn idiot cultists." He stood on his broken pillar, ignoring the danger in favor of insulting the cultists.

 

[Larenxis]

(Ha ha, you guys are hilarious. And Zemalac, you were hindered a bit by the Lich Emperor being long gone.)

 

[Kelethor]

I was wondering if I could jump in on this RP?

 

[Kelethor]

i have an Idea for a chracter and everything,

 

[The_Toe_Bighter98]

I also have a great character, imaginery and everything. His skills are killing late characters or trench coating ones. Wanna see Kelethor? =D

 

[Zemalac]

(Ha ha, you guys are hilarious. And Zemalac, you were hindered a bit by the Lich Emperor being long gone.)

OOC: Pffft. They worship the spirit of the Lich Emperor. I thought that perhaps they'd believe someone sent by what they worship. I mean, come on. They're bowing to the spirit of some undead creep and his crystal. I didn't think they would be logical enough to see through me.

 

[Saskwach]

Spoiler

Initiative=16+1=17
Sometimes gnomes are quick.

Semong had only walked 10 feet towards the cultists and had spent that time sizing up a cultist with his crossbow. He now let fly with the speed and surety of a gnome whose finger had been on the trigger and whose mind had been on the finger.

Spoiler

Attack roll: 8
Attack Mod: +5
Total: 13
Shooting into combat? I don't expect they'd have had the chance to all dogpile Zem but if so: 9.
In case these cultists are the simply robed ones and their idea of armour is faith and velvet:
Damage=1
I've never had luck with damage rolls.

 

[The Inev]

Spoiler: Initiative

12+3=15, he's not the kind of guy who's unprepared.

During Zem's outrageous plan, Varstl had slowly made his way around the right of the vine-covered wall, taking care not to be noticed by the distracted cultists and hoping to catch their flank by surprise. The ruse having failed, he readies his crossbow, waiting for anyone to make a sudden move.

Spoiler: Move Silently

13+10=23. If that worked, he tries to blend himself into the foliage to hopefully gain a Sneak Attack.

Spoiler: Hide

8+10=18.

Spoiler: Readied Action

Varstl readies a crossbow shot for the first Cultist to make an attack, whether mundane or magical. If mundane, such as a dagger or bow, Varstl hopes to take them down before they can harm one of his crew. If magical, Varstl wants to disrupt their spell as it would probably be particularly devestating against our crowded group.

 

[BeeL]

Spoiler: Initiative

Roll 10 + 5 = 15

Velve hindered by his heavy armour is slow to react.

 

[Zemalac]

OOC: So, ah, are the cultists going to do anything? Nothing's happened for five days, but they won initiative so the rest of us can't do anything until they act, right?

 

[Larenxis]

(Ah! sorry, I was waiting for one more, and there isn't one. Excuse my foolishness.)

The two cultists nearest Zem attempt to seize him. Most of the cultists seem fairly nervous and one of them looks downright amused.

Spoiler

Rolled 3 for grapple check, +2 mod, +2 from aid another. Can you beat a 7?

 

[Zemalac]

Spoiler

Bah. No problem. So, I get one attack of opportunity...rolled a 3, +1, total of 4. Yeah, nothing there. Opposed grapple check...rolled 7, -1 strength modifier, +2 base attack bonus, total of 8. Not the best rolls in the world, but I'm still standing.

Zem swung his spear at the nearest of the cultists trying to seize him. The blade came nowhere close to the cultist, but the man didn't know that--all he saw was the light flashing from the blade in front of him. He flinched slightly, and Zem shrugged off the seeking hands.

"I have had quite enough of this," he muttered. "It's almost becoming embarrassing."

OOC: So, does Varstl's readied action take effect now?