PBEM, Episode 106 - Scooby, Dresses, and Hallways

ONE HUNDRED SIX

(I/C)
The group split up the oil and candles, Brendon stuffing his already bulging sack with the broken ink vials, cup, and loose paper as well. And then at the end he also snagged the 3 dried wax candles in the candelabras. “Um,” Lannis asked, “What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s alright,” the scout replied, also taking a flask of oil and a few more normal candles. “I have a plan.”

“Sure you do.”

Wyn cleared his throat. “Ah sug’est we goes an’ follow the plan Monsieur Dwarfriend laid out and epy on zee next door.”

The group drew up, slings, swords, and hammer at the ready. Lannis gave the Scriptorium a final forlorn look as the door was closed and we then continued to the end of the north hall and made our way west. The passage here was fairly ordinary, nothing jumped out at us. About half way down was a door on the north way, and at least another 20, 25 paces the passage turned to the south. At the door Wyn and Brendon looked over the doorway (>Hear Noise +10 help, Red 68..>Find Traps +10 help, Red 53) before stepping back with thumps up.

Abraxas swapped his sword to his sheath and shield at the ready, grabbed the handle and turned it. “Uno..Dos..Tres.”

The door opened and a there was a puff of air as the portal swung open. The room was some 30 x 20, and there was a panel divider in the middle of the room. Each panel was 5’ tall and 6’ wide, and they were lightly opaque, changing screens.

Behind the screens could be seen 2 shadowy figures, arms moving lightly and no legs as they floated there, the room had a chill to it a cold that the group could feel on the air currents. (>Surprised 2/6: Pink/White 3)

“What the?” Abraxas stepped back, seeing the figures behind the screens also had no heads. “Aiee!” he hissed.

(Half Wisdom Check: Lannis: >Pink 20 [failed], Abraxas: >Blue 12 [failed], Kovid: >Yellow 10 [failed], Wyn: >Orange 14 [failed].
Brendon: <Red 2 [success], Lyra: <White 7 [success])

“Ghost?” “Ghost!” “Fucking spirit!” “Magic weapon?” “Silver weapon!” “We should leave, now!”

Only the Cleric and the Scout seemed to be unfazed by the apparitions behind the panels and had cooler heads.

Time now is 1:55
(OOC)
Panel Room. 2 ghostly figures behind the panels, arms waving, no heads! 4 of you are a bit freaked out, Brendon and Lyra, you are not. What’s the plan?

PBEM, Episode 105 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

ONE HUNDRED FIVE

(I/C)
“Told you guys there’d be some monster crab thing,” Lyra quipped. “Wait, actually.”

Kovid laughed, “Nice shot bolt master, bolt blaster... Master blaster! Ah haha.”

Stretching out the aches in his arms and checking out his wounded leg, Wyn said, "Well, dat was weird... tank you fer de potion, Monsieur Salazar.”

“De nada, Senor!”

“I returned de empty potion vial and stopper to your bag in case we need it fer later.”

“Gracias,” the Fighter replied.

Once he felt better, Wyn continued, "So we still need to check de fireplace, de table, en de candélabre. Mayhaps Offop swap out fer du Lac?"

“Oh yeah,” Lannis agreed. “I’m done in there.”

"Du Lac cen check de table en de candélabre, while I go to actually look at de fireplace en look over de dead ting more closely. Be sure to leave yer pack in de 'all du Lac. Lighten de loud, oui?"

Stripping off his gear, Brendon said, “My pack is off, Only weapons I have with me are the dagger & sword"

“Wyn,” Lyra said, “Toss that spider thing to the door if you don’t mind, I’d like to give it a once over please.”

"Will do, Priestess,” Turning to Lannis who was getting untied of his harness by Abraxas, “Monsieur Offop, do ye want to 'old all de scrolls en books? Or de you want me to 'old de read magic scroll en one book for now till you 'ave time to read it?"

“Great idea,” the Magic User agreed. “Yes, yes, take the read magic for now, I still haven't decided what the best way to handle the other right now is. If you wouldn't mind taking one of the books I would appreciate it. This one about Prince Ellis would be great." (Swap 1 Scroll [1] and 1 Scriptorium Book [25] between Inventory)

Treading with care, Brendon and Wyn reentered the room while Lyra waited by the door and Kovid kept his vigil in the hall. Wyn went to the fireplace where he poked the Crab Spider one more time, satisfied it was dead, and then grabbed its back legs and dragged it toward the doorway. “Por vu, Lyra.”

“Thanks,” the cleric got down on her haunches and with care, started to look the creature over while Wyn went back to the Fireplace. Still watching the centerline of the room, he stayed on the west side while he went over the flagstones, poking the wall with his sword now and again at anything that looked even vaguely out of place.

After a few minutes of looking, Wyn was sure that he startled half a dozen very small, the size of a finger nail, baby crab spiders able to crush half of them but the others escaped up the flue. There were no loose stones, no hidden areas, and it looked like from the choking webs and dust above that the fireplace hadn’t been lit in decades. “Bah,” he muttered dusting his hands off and turned back to the doorway.

Brendon on the other hand looked over the table which was also on both sides of the room, staying as much as possible on the west side of the Scriptorium. Most of the loose papers on the table were yellow with age and covered with smears and practice scrawls as if some long ago student was practicing his or her letters. The blotter for the ink was dry and cracked, the two ink vials were empty and had been knocked over spiderweb cracks running through the bases. There was a wooden cup that had some strange stalks in it until the Scout realized they were quills, with none of the feather parts remaining on them.

It was under the table that he got lucky and there was a closed wooden box down there with a loose rope cover. He dragged it out and it was filled with candles and oil (Poor quality box with 12 Candles [12] and 3 Flasks of Oil [3]) under a layer of folded cloth. The candles had been protected from the passage of time and unlike the ones in the candelabras, they were not dried out and cracked and would be usable to the party. “Got it!” he said, bringing it to the front door where the group was happy for more light source material and were going to divide it up.

Meanwhile Lyra had been looking over the Crab Spider, anticipating finding a number or a “L” on it somewhere, but there was neither. She was pretty sure though that the Crab Spider for all its size and frightening demeanor, was NOT 30 years old or even close. “If I was to guess, maybe a few years old at most.”

The group now out of the room and Kovid reporting that there was still nothing to worry about, and Lannis turning the pages of the Mother of Monster tome slowly ad he devoured the words, all discussed what was to happen next. “The north door in the hall seems like the next logical location to explore,” Kovid said pointing behind him and then waving his map at the group. “I’ve marked it on the map. If it’s locked or a small room without more doors, we should continue west... Butcher, ice, and elven music. Hmm.”

Time now is 1:45
(OOC)
Divide up who gets a candles and oils (each weighs 1 coinweight) and this adds 30 hours of light to the party’s stores. Good job! Do we continue west or something else?

PBEM - Application 2, Brendon/Thief

This was the second application of the 3rd set of interludes I had the group do for homework. I had them to write 2 paragraphs about what they told the Academy of Explorers that made them get hired over other potential applicants. This was the one for Brendon, the thief (Scout). In addition, I had everyone also write the same amount for 1 applicant (not them) that was NOT hired.

There is a lot of tongue in cheek in these Interview reviews regarding Corfard (the BBEG) and his thoughts and actions. Is he me? Is he an aspect of me? Who knows! Read on!

Follows:

BRENDON

“Blessed Corfard? A moment of your time?”

~ “Ah, my child. So good to see you Give me a second to save this.”

“Save what, my lord?”

~ “This.”

“Um,. Blessed Corfard. I don’t see…”

~ “Done! So Adept, how are things after our last meeting?”

“I am still a bit undone after seeing the Elf up close and hearing his words.”

~ “I understand, but in order for us to better deal with these interlopers, we need to know about them and from whence they came.”

“I agree, Blessed Corfard. I have searched my courage and find I am ready to learn more.”

~ “Excellent my child. For I am already thought on which one I would learn about next.”

“Do not leave this low worm in suspense, Blessed Corfard. Who?”

~ “We shall be seeking out the origin and interviews ripped from the very heart of space-time itself, of the militant and exacting personage that is Brendon Lake!”

“Blessed Corfard! He is the one who braves the halls first!”

~ “Exactly. His courage must be exemplary for him to dare the dark halls of the Murderer’s Castle so far ahead of his companions.”

“What shall we learn, Blessed Corfard?”

~ “Let us see! Through the sands of time, past the heart of a dying star, across the broken backs of stagnant eternity, let my gaze befall upon that which I wish to know…BEHOLD!”

The room crackled with energy and a bolt of lightning tore from the sky and slammed down on the ground before the Adept, tearing the air asunder with the stench of burnt paper and ozone. Through the tear, a hole could be seen and in it a well lit room with a half dozen older men and women standing by a curtained area where a shadowy figure in leather armor could be glimpsed.

“Blessed Corfard! Such wonders! But, isn’t this the same room that we saw earlier when we first spied upon the bloodthirsty elf?”

~ “Yes, Adept. It is the same room since the interviews the Academy performed were all done the same day at the same location. It makes it easier for us as well since all I have to do is cut and paste the description to save precious minutes.”

“Blessed Corfard, I saw neither knife for cutting nor pitch pot for pasting.”

~ “Trust me, Adept. Control see and control vee were done.”

“If you insist, Blessed One.”

~ “I do. Let us listen.”

"So, Master Brendon, if you are ready to address us? What makes you the best candidate out of the other choices to be entrusted with this mission? Why you?"

“Blessed Corfard? Brendon is behind the curtain? Is he disfigured?”

~ “No Adept. No more so than any other human. He has a thematic background and is looking to maximize his presence. Ah, here he comes!”

Stepping out from behind the shadowy curtain near the entrance of the room, Brendon Lake bowed low, doffing a battered feathered cap before straightening up, his quiver of arrows rattling lightly from the motion.

~ “Ah, bowman. Yes. Going for the DPS.”

“Blessed Corfard, I do not understand.”

~ “Standard Thief/Rogue build involves missile weapons for maximized DPS in any well rounded party. I wonder how his cool downs specs are? Most likely basic since it doesn’t seem to come from his off the rack gear.”

“I am… I don’t…”

~ “It’s ok, noob. The Thief speaks.”

"Good afternoon esteemed lords and ladies of the Board of Academy of Explorers. I hope this day finds you all doing well. I have heard whispers amongst the townsfolk that you need finely trained personnel to assist in a task of the highest importance. If you have a few moments, I would like to submit myself as one of the individuals you consider."

“He seems to be well spoke, Blessed Corfard.”

~ “Indeed. I am used to thieves being more of the fugettabout type and wiseguy variety. Plus there is the knife you in the back sort who feign friendship and take you out with a distraction.”

“Well, this Brendon is not that type it seems.”

~ “No. Let us watch.”

"I am extensively trained in the arts of manipulation. I know what you may be thinking. He’s not dressed like a caster and you’d be right. I cannot cast spells wearing this."

~ “I thought so, standard issue Leather Armor. He hasn’t any raid gear yet.”

“Hmm?”

~ ”Shh.”

"I speak of body manipulation. I have mastered the arts of moving myself so much so that I do not leave any sounds when I walk, my fingers that I may open the secured, and my ears to hear even the slightest of sounds."

~ “We should concentrate on nullifying the group with his removal.”

"I have a varied set of skills that makes me unique in virtually any group on land and sea. I had spent several years with the Silvermeadow Rangers as a scout. I have been a fletcher and I am at home in all surroundings. I’m sure I’m not the only person you have seen or will see and I’m sure we all boast about our skills."

~ “See what he did there? I believe he just negged himself.”

“In public? Has he no shame?”

~ “No Adept…Nevermind, I’ll explain it later.”

"I may not be a man of strength or grit, but I am fiercely loyal and protective. Many of my counterparts cannot make the same claims. Thank you for your time and consideration."

The image froze with Brendon in mid bow, hat doffed and held to the side.

~ “I can see why the Academy chose this Thief to send here. Precise, young, earnest, some skills, forward thinker. In short, a danger to us.”

“So true, Blessed Corfard.”

~ “Let us see the thief that was second choice. Ok…Back to main menu. Special…Got it…BEHOLD!!”

The view changed within the torn bit of space, showing a tall swarthy human with slick backed hair, a garish ring on his pinky, his shirt open and laces undone revealing a hairy chest with a few gold chains dangling there. He was sitting at a chair in front of the other men and women, glancing around with casual interest.

"So I saw a flyer the youz was hiring thieves right? That’s great, I get most of my work from flyers! All the best thief work comes from flyers dontcha know. I didn't read the whole thing honestly, just the word Thief at the top. What kind of job is this again? Smash and grab? Knife in the back? Frame job? I'm real good at frame jobs.”

“A frame job, Blessed Corfard?”

~ “When displaying a picture, Adept. It seems this thief has some carpentry skills as well. Most likely good at rabbiting and dovetails.”

“They are good to eat, Blessed Corfard!”

~ “Eh? No…let us listen.”

“What? Adventure? Crown? Even better, adventurers make loads of easy cash, and I always make twice as much as everyone else. I'm real good at it too, only failed to find two traps in me whole life, that’s why they call me 'ol Eight Fingers!”

“Blessed Corfard, I can count and he is only holding up Seven fingers.”

~ “It seems he is not as good of a thief as he imagines himself to be.”

“I've been thiefing for as long as I can remember, learned from the best, 'ol Five Fingers.”

“Um…he is holding up only two fingers on each hand.”

~ “I am learning why the Academy skipped this personage.”

“So, we get some kind of advance so I can buy gear? Oh hey, I got some buddies who would be perfect for this kind of work, if you give me their advances too I'll go get 'em. So a crown huh? Never tried to knock off the King before but how hard could it be?”

“Blessed Corfard, it would appear he did not read exactly what this mission was for.”

~ “No, Adept. Some Humans live such short lives that they find it easier to skip all the boring parts and look only for the exciting nuggets.”

“You know I like you, you really get me, you get the kind of work people around here should be doing. You know, walking in here I saw some faggy looking pirate guy in the next room over. I could tell from here that guys not half the thief I am. Bet he calls himself a scout. Hey, I'll do you guys a favor, free of charge. You hire me, right here, right now, plus my advance, and I'll pin six or seven rejection letters to that guys back for you. Saving you guys time is one of the many services I offer. So, do we have a deal? By the way, has anyone ever told you that you've got some real nice stuff in here? Real expensive looking.”

There was a muffled question coming from the table.

“What was that? My name? You sure do ask a lot of questions, huh?"

The image came to a stop and the hole sealed itself closed.

“Blessed Corfard. I would imagine that is the example of the kind of thief you would normally find, correct?”

~ “Yes Adept. But instead, we have a different type. More professional and hence, more dangerous.”

“But we can defeat him?”

~ “Of that I have no doubt, Adept. No doubt at all.”

PBEM, Episode 104 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

ONE HUNDRED FOUR

(I/C)
Wyn drew his sword, cursing, “Putain de merde! You 'ave to buy me dinna first, you meunier de crustacé sale!" He lunged forward (>+3 to hit, Orange 14) short sword skittering across the crab spider’s carapace (1d6+1 Damage, Orange 1 – 2 Damage!) scoring a deep line but failing to run the beast through. "Rod it, Offop! Rod it 'ard"

 "Señor Wynds,”Abraxas called still holding the rope, “get behind my shield! There is a potion in my bag, make some crab cakes or get out of the room. Rapido amigo!"

Lannis yanked the Ishtari Rod out of his robe, yelling, “Wyn, get out of the way!” and waiting just long enough for the elf to leap back from the reaching arms of the Crab Spider before swinging it forward and firing (1d3+1 Bolts: Pink 5: 4 Bolts) the magic forward. Long bolts tore from the front of the Rod (+5 to hit, >Pink 12, >Pink 9, >Green 19, <Teal 6). The spider skittered forward giving chase to the elf when the first bolt ripped into its rear section (1d6 Damage, Pink 3), slammed through its thorax (1d6 Damage, White 4 and Killed!!) and the third ripped two of its rear legs off (1d6 Damage, Red 1 and Extra Damage!!), the fourth bolt missing and slamming into the fireplace but the Crab Spider was already rolling to a stop unmoving.

“I am OWNING this place!” Lannis held the Rod aloft with a flourish before putting it back into his belt.

(WMC: Red/Black 5) The group waited a few moments for the sounds of combat to fade until they were sure that none of the local denizens heard the fight and were coming to investigate. They all released a collective breath and then relaxed.

Abraxas took out his Healing Potion and handed it to Wyn who took with a fast “Merci” and then popped the wax seal and rank it down (Heal 1d6, White/Pink 3 – Heal 3), visibly relaxing as his wounds scabbed over and faded to red and yellow blotches.

“Ok!” Lannis released his shuddering breath. “So, back to the books!”

“Really?” Lyra asked. “Are we sure?”

“Come on,” he replied. “That can’t happen twice.” He pointed into the room. “It’s right over there. I’ll be fast and careful.”

Wyn smiled. “Go, Monsieur. I’ll wait here.”

“I have your rope, Senor.”

Going back to the shelf, Lannis proceeded to dig through the shelves while the oil burned and the party watched and waited. Eventually Lannis had grabbed 3 books and two scroll from the almost 100 that were still there. “What did you find, Manling?”

“Well, given the sheer amount here to look through I kept my search parameter two the 4 instances I said earlier: Castle, Keys, Goddesses, or Magic. And I have the following items. A book about a Prince Ellis, Knight of the Goddesses. A tome that detailed something about the Mother of Monsters and her Progeny. A book that talks about Rowena of Havenwood, Ishtari Magister. And there were 2 scrolls as well, one that had Read Magic in it, and the other that had a more difficult spell, Detect Invisibility.”

“Ooo,” Wyn said, “Zat might come in ‘andy.”

Holding the 3 books and 2 scrolls, Lannis nodded in agreement, “Hell yeah.” (Add 3 Scriptorium Book [25 each] to Inventory and Scrolls of Read Magic and Detect Invisibility [1 each] to Inventory)

Time now is 1:35
(OOC)
Explore XP: 30 each
Bonus XP Lannis Search: 10 XP
COMBAT XP: Crab Spider – 60 XP (divided)
Lannis add: 15 xp
Everyone else add 10 xp.
What now?

PBEM, Episode 103 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

There is something very nice about using B/X and all the at that time wonky creatures in there. Crab Spiders - never perfectly described but always neat to toss at the group.

Follows:

ONE HUNDRED THREE

(I/C)
Wyn took off his pack, bow, and quiver, leaving them just outside the door. “I look around de fireplace to see iffin anytin ta find. I tink Offop cen check de scrolls on ‘is own... don’t want ta be close to ‘im iffin he ‘az an epiphanie all ova de place...“

“Lannis, leave your pack by the door and tie a rope around you and something dense, in case the trap actives,” Brendon helped the Magic User remove his gear while Wyn handed his better rope to the Scout.

"Good thinking Brendon, mind tying me on?” Lannis seemed almost jumpy with his desire to enter the Scriptorium. “You're a man of the sea, I assume you're a master of knots. Not sure what to tie myself down to, unless Abraxas wouldn't mind holding the rope for me.”

"Este... no me gusta amigos,” Abraxas shrugged but took the back end of the rope, wrapping it around his forearm. “Knowingly walking into a trap, es loco. But I am here for you Señor Lanneis, be careful. Good luck Señor Wyun. I'll hold down el Bastille out in the hallway. Señor Koivad, ayuda me, por favor. I dont think we should have too many people in there."

 “Aye, Abraxas I can hold the rope and be an additional anchor WHEN the trap goes off.” Kovid leaned over to the Fighter, whispering, “I think we might be the... how would you say it? 'Cabeza grandes' in this outfit... hahaha.” He laughed and then sighed deeply. “Thor’s shit I could really go for a cerveza grande right now!”

While Brendon was typing the rope across Lannis’ shoulders and through the back to make a catch point for the Magic User, the group’s wizard continued, “I'm going to be honest, there's a lot of books in here, and potentially a lot to gain from searching, but it will take longer than some of you may be comfortable with. I implore you to let me conduct as thorough a search as I can, or allow me to come back later to finish it. Please, this could be very important."

“How long?” Lyra asked.

“If I just do a cursory search, like flip it open, read an excerpt or unroll a bit to see what’s written, it’s still gonna take me a good half hour.”

“Lannis…” Lyra said, drawing out his name.

“I’ll prioritize, I promise. Castle, the Keys, 4 Goddesses, or anything Magical. I swear, that’s it.”

Brendon slapped Lannis on the back. “It looks and feels silly I’m sure, but it’ll keep you alive.”

Lyra and Kovid moved north down the hall towards the corner, the Dwarf holding on to the tail end of the rope. Brendon moved south down the hall to keep post in that place to watch for issues and intruders. Abraxas was at the door, the bulk of the rope around his forearm and leg braced at the corner of the door, controlling the slack as Lannis walked across the floor. And Wyn watched the center line of the room as he approached the dormant fireplace to search it around.

Lannis reverently took the first tome off the shelf and smiled, the heavy book weighing in his hand. Holding it with care he cracked the cover and read the first paragraph or two before sighing and closing it, putting it back on the shelf. “Should be allowed to spend a long more than 20, 30 seconds per book. Maybe later we can come back again,” he muttered as he took a second book and repeated his search.

The group was waiting and watching Lannis carefully, the mage on the far end of the room in the area that “could” be a trap under the wrong circumstances. Wyn as well had his attention divided between poking around flagstones and the back of the hearth and seeing what Lannis was up to (Surprise Check 4/6: Red/Black 2 – Surprised! Thanks Kelly!).

Hidden in the back of the fireplace and camouflaged to look like the stones, something skittered and LUNGED for the elf, its chameleon like powers ending. It was an almost 3’ tall spider with a pair of crab like pincers in place of its front two legs.

“Sacre blu!” Wyn gasped as the Crab Spider hit the elf hard, its claws gripping him on the thigh and wrist and squeezed as it PULLED itself into the elf and its fangs buried themselves in the soft place under his armpit (>+2 to hit +4 Surprise, Red/Black 17), tracing fire in his blood and a pair of deep holes there as well as lacerated wrist and badly bruised thigh (1d8 Damage, Red/Black 5 – Take 5 Damage!). “MERDE!” he cursed.

He could feel its poison running through his body (>Save vs Poison +2 bonus, Orange 18) but the elf was made of sterner stuff and was able to fight through the fire in his blood. Lannis was standing there with a book in his hand, Wyn had a Crab Spider in front of him and the elf was already woozy from the first pass (Down to 4 hp), and Abraxas was in the doorway holding the rope connected to Lannis and the rest of the group were in the hall.

(Initiative: Spider Red/Black 1, Party Steel 2). And it was our turn.

Time is now 1:04

(OOC)

Crab Spider! Ah!

With the door open and a fight going on, if the party makes noise I will make a WMC with a 2/6 chance of success. So quick and quiet if possible. What’s the plan? Run in the possibly trapped room? Attack? Not? Wyn is down to 4 hp, spider does 1-8 when it hits plus poison. Remember where everyone is and time to get there. Chameleon power ends after it attacks, has to flee and get away to pull that trick again.

PBEM, Episode 102 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

ONE HUNDRED TWO

(I/C)
“Kitchen,” Brendon offered, “Let’s swing into the kitchen to grab some bowels. I can use the frayed rope and the bowls to make a few censers for the middle and rear to carry.”

Abraxas grit his teeth. “We are not getting any bowels.”

“Bowls, Abraxas.” Brendon snapped, “Slip of the tongue. With all the wrong things…”

He started to raise his finger accusingly when Wyn stepped in front of him and placed his hand over the Scout’s, shaking it slowly. “Non.”

Lannis filled the silence. "We should check the Scriptorum next, look for candles or sealing wax. After that when we continue on. We should fill our flasks soon, we should fill the lantern out of a flask then refill the flask, much safer than trying to fill it from the bucket.” He snapped his fingers. “Now to the real treasure, the books!"

"Good idea large-headed man!" Kovid beamed, looking at his battered map. “After magic-man gets his paper and wax, let's explore the halls west of there. I've marked points of interest on the map, but keep an eye and ear open to our east."

Untying the rope from the bucket, Brendon glanced at the Fighter before handing the bucket to Lannis, “Mind carrying this, I’m a bit over loaded? Besides flasks let’s grab a few bowls from other the kitchen or dining hall on the way back.”

Eyes flashing, Abraxas whirled back around and shoved the bucket back to Brendon and out of Lannis’ hands, “Brindoan... you must carry your own burdens. Cumbersome as they may be. As must I!”

The group got quiet and Wyn observed the interaction between Brendon and Abraxas with weary exhaustion. “Sigh. I take de bucket for now Monsieur du Lac. I push us out ‘ere, so I cen carry it.”

“Well,” Kovid looked around and bristled his beard. “Ok, We have a bucket, there are 2 discarded oil flasks in the Barracks Room. We can detour there, grab them, head off to the Classroom, get the oil, and then fill the lantern and replace the backboard again and then go to the…”

“Scriptorium!” Lannis burst. “Got it! Let’s go! Go! Go! Go people.”

As the group was heading back to the castle, Brendon working on unraveling the rope, Lyra said, “Once there, if we have a few minutes I would like to take a quick look at the books if there’s any good ones left. Looking for religious texts.”

“Oh ho!” Lannis grinned, “If I have my way, we’ll be there for quite a bit.”

“Manling,” Kovid admonished, “we’ll be there as long as we need to be and no longer.”

“Sure, sure, sure.”

The party reentered the Ispan’s Castle, shutting the door behind them, and worked their way with lantern lit to the East Corridor and eventually the passage down near the Barracks (WMC: Red/Black 3). Once there they listened, opened the door, and Kovid went to the back of the room and then up to the Upper Barracks where he grabbed the two empty flasks and covers and returned to the party.

“Seals are shot, but if we get some wax, it should be easy to reseal them.”

“Scriptorium!” Lannis hissed.

“Senor Dwarvid,” Abraxas offered, holding his hand out to take one of the flasks. “I can carve my soap into a stopper if need be and then jam it in.”

“Hmm. Not a bad idea in a pinch. Will have to use a dagger to open it later, but let’s do that.”

The party shut the doors behind them and then took the passage north to the main central hall. From there they went west, listening with care until they arrived at the Classroom door again. Brendon gave it a once over while Kovid walked a bit further ahead to look west. “What you doing dwarf?” Lyra asked.

“Getting out of the light.” He squinted and then grunted satisfied. “Door at the end of the hall with the statues that lead to where Grilljax was is shut.”

“No more kobolds,” Brendon muttered under his breath, only Wyn was close enough to head, the elf smiling sadly.

The door open again, the party entered the classroom and shut it. Once again the blackboard was removed and Brendon went back to unraveling the rope. Wyn, using his own rope tied it to the bucket handle and turned to the scout to say, “Monsieur du Lac, I tink we be needed to retrieve de oil first. We ‘ave de Dex-tare-ity required to ‘andle de bucketin’. En de fumes from de oil might be too much for just one of us to do it reliably multiple times.”

“Sounds good, Wyn.”

The party watched as the elf lowered the bucket to the oil, allowing it to swing a few times before letting the rope go slack (Dex >12, no roll) and the bucket fell into the oil on its side, the handle and rope still out of the sludge. “Nice!” He waited a moment and then proceeded to pull it up slowly hand over hand, backing away often to get fresh breaths until finally the bucket came out.

“Hmm,” Kovid looked in. “Refined. Some impurities on top. Should be easy enough to skim away. You have enough here to fill both flask and refill the lantern.” He proceeded to pour some of the oil back into the hole where it dripped down into the darkness and then placed the first and then the second flask under the stream to fill them to the top.

Then, he transferred one of them to the lantern until it was full, and had Wyn pour the oil again so he can fill the flask another time. Abraxas used his soap to make 2 stoppers (Remove Elven soap) which he pressed into the mouths and rubbed it a bit to smooth out the rough ends of the soap and fill the gaps. “Perfecto!” (Kovid, add 2 flasks of oil [2] to inventory, Lantern back to 6 hours full).

Looking at the bucket, Wyn handed it to Abraxas and asked, “Monsieur Salazar, do you tink you cen carry dis bucket for de time being? I tink ‘avin’ too much load will affect Wyn’s normal speediness... We could leave eet in de room, too, but I don’t want to give any hints to what we found. Com-pren-dey, mon ami?”

Shaking his head, the Fighter answered, “Señor Wyndel, while I appreciate your trust in mis manos, I do not think carrying an open bucket of oil around the Castle is our best course of action. Usamos el bucket to gather oil, fill up our flasks and lantern. Either we hide the bucket here, behind the chalkboard or bring it with us empty. I do not dare walk around with it sloshing all over as we walk."

Wyn frowned at first, “Oil in de... Oh... no dat would be a very bad idea, Monsieur,” he chuckled. “ I just meant carry de bucket. Dat it after we use it, we cen wipe it off wit one of de towels we have and you cen carry de bucket. Dat is what I meant, Monsieur.”

He paused and added “Dough... soaking an towel in de oil might be good way to make a torch... hm I tink about did more... meanwhile hold de empty bucket or we cen leave it here somewheres... smart.”

Kovid pointed to the hole. “Scaffolding peg. Right there. Hang it on the peg by the handle.” He reached over and placed the bucket inside the hole in place. “There! As long as no one slams into the wall again and again, bucket should be fine.” He pointed to the blackboard. “Ok everyone, let’s hang this bad boy one more time.”

The party once again hung the blackboard in place and smoothed out the room to hide the presence again. Once ready, they amassed at the door where a listen in the hall again (WMC: Red/Black 3) showed we were still alone. So the party crept out, shut the door behind them, and proceeded westward to the first northern turnoff.

They approached the door on the right that lead to the Scriptorium, Lannis almost bouncing with glee. Giving it one more look over, Brendon opened the door and we had a chance to look in. There are SHELVES covering most of the EAST WALL, filled with BOOKS and SCROLLS from about 4’ up to the top of the shelves, the bottom has been emptied. An OVAL WOODEN TABLE sits along the north wall with a variety of books and papers scattered across it, two battered chairs near it. A pair of candelabras flank the door, only 3 candles though are present. The CANDLES are old and are not of the same quality as the slowburn candle that had been in the Hobgoblin Barracks. There is a large FIREPLACE along the SOUTH WALL.

Brendon entered with care and searched along the east wall (>Find Traps +25 bonus, Red 75) and Kovid entered and did the same (<Find Secret Stone Doors +1 bonus, Yellow 1). After a few minutes the Scout said, “I know there is a opening behind this wall, and I can see a seam in the floor here about 10’ out from the wall where it would drop away, but if there is a trigger for it, I can’t find it.”

“I agree, Manling,” Kovid said. “The wall opens here and here,” He pointed to the middle 10’ section of the east wall, “Can make out the faint cracks in the stone. And close to the wall, I can smell the oil.”

“Ok, ok! Can we come in now?!” Lannis asked excitedly.

“Who’s going to look at what?” Brendon asked.

Time now is 12:54
(OOC)
What’s the plan?

PBEM, Episode 101 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

ONE HUNDRED ONE

(I/C)
Abraxas sighed, squatting on one of the smaller chairs, sword balanced on his thigh as he polished the blade and looked around. Brendon stuck his head into the hole and looked around and then came out, shaking his head and sneezing. “Lots of vapors in there, Manling,” Kovid offered.

“I noticed,” the Scout replied. “Was thinking of maybe crossing, using the pegs where the scaffolding used to be. But I don’t think I can hold my breath that long.”

“Plus it’s a long way down to who knows how much oil,” the Dwarf added.

“We need to remove zee torch,” Wyn pointed out, drawing a sigh from Lannis.

"While I appreciate a gaping maw to Hells upper levels as much as the next wizard,” the Magic User deadpanned, “I'd rather not fall into one right now. Let me see what I can do about that torch. If no one objects to trying we could use one or two brackets to weigh down a rope to see the depth of the oil, or my darts are of a similar weight.” He rolled up his sleeve and sighted across the dim chamber.

“Senor,” Abraxas offered. “Besides the torch, you should also do something about the grande flint.”

“One miracle at a time, Roadblock.” He proceeded to wave his hips, twisting his hands together as he intoned arcane words, lights dancing around his fingertips.

Watching the Magic User do his spell, Wyn asked with a troubled frown, "Why do you make all de thrusting motions to cast doze darts, Monsieur Offop? You know what, dat fine. You do you."

“In Bet Grav!” He finally intoned and the first Dart tore through a hole in the air and streaked across smashing into the torch (1d4 Damage: Pink 3 and Broken!) and exploding it! Splinters fell out of the sconce and some of the larger pieces hit the oil with a splash. “THAT’S how you do it!” He pumped his fist in the air.

Brendon was tying two of the brackets to the end of his rope nodding. “Lovely. If my hands were free I’d clap.”

“Bah! I just know you are amazed. My dizzying intellect cows you into feelings of inadequacy that you cover up with sarcasm. I forgive you and you are welcome.”

“Good job, Senor Lankless!” Abraxas cheered. “Now the flint?”

“On it.” Once again he chanted, waving his hips and gyrating while Wyn and Kovid and Lyra who were behind him mimed his actions with grotesque thrustings of their own. He came to the end of his spell and once more the air in front of him tore open a streak of force ripped through. “In Bet Grav! Again!” It arced through the space and (1d4 Damage: Red/Black 4 and Broken! Thanks Kelly!!) hit the flint in the center, shattering it into at least a dozen pieces and it too fell into the oil below. “BOOYAH!! High Fives for me!”

The party actually complimented Lannis on his efforts. “At least now we won’t have to worry about the trap going off.”

“Not entirely true, Kovid,” Brendon added as he brought his rope to the hole and started lowering it. “It’s bent in place and can still go off with a lot of weight, but it will not set the oil on fire anymore.”

“Hmmph,” Kovid pouted. “Whatever.”

The Scout lowered the rope and brackets down until it touched the surface of the oil and then continued, submerging until the “clink” of metal touching stone could be heard and the rope briefly slacked. He then pulled it up hand over hand until he could see the base of it, coated in the dark oil from below.

“Hmm,” Kovid and Wyn looked it over. “Six inches.”

“Oui.” Wyn Looked back at the hole. “10 foot square. Zat is ten by ten by ‘alf a foot…Fi’ty cubic feet of oil.”

“Holy Aine!” Lyra swore. “Um..how much is that in flasks? Pints? Gallons? I don’t buy oil by the cubic foot.”

Kovid chuckled. “1 cubic foot is tad under seven and a half gallons.”

“Um..” Lannis grunted.

“Oui Monsieur, 375 Gallons of oil.”

“I am so going to sell all of that.”

Lyra frowned, “Are we getting a bucket to store the oil? We’re going to need flasks or vials as well to keep it on us, no?”

Brendon untied the brackets. “Chances are we can only get at best 2/3rds of that since the last inch or two would be almost impossible to pick up. Plus it’s going down to get it, not a good plan. We can use the bucket and rope at the well to haul up the oil.”

Wyn nodded. “Hokay, then plan. We need to cover this up again so no one takes the oil or knows we know it’s there. Then we need to go outside and get zee bucket and rope, and zhen come back in here and go on to the Scriptorium.”

 Kovid nodded. “Well, oil trap confirmed. I’m glad the map we found did end up aligning with our map. That was an early call. Aligns with Jowass’s map too. Now that we have a good sense of what lies ahead let’s not blow ourselves up.” Pointing to the bricks, he added, “Reverse to move the brick line back this way everyone, dump them down the hole into the oil, and then cover up the hole with the blackboard.”

The party worked hard moving the 32 blocks back away from the door and Kovid let them fall into the oil filled room, tossing them near the corners where he could. Lannis was watching the fourth wall carefully (WMC: Red/Black 5) expecting to see something surprise the group but nothing untoward happened. From there the group brought the blackboard back to the wall and Kovid spent some time working the brackets along the corners and then borrowed Abraxas’ hammer to bang them back into place.

And even though this also took some time, Lannis was worried and kept checking the fourth wall (WMC: Red/Black 5) muttering, “Where the fuck are you?” and having Lyra keep her distance from the grumbling magic user.

Finally the party was satisfied, removed the desks from the door and went back into the hall, checking carefully. They went back east to the long hall, walked down south with care listening briefly at each door until finally they made it to the Sitting Room and outside again. From there it was a walk around the outside of the castle where there (WMC: Red/Black 4 – Thanks Kelly – 3 checks – no WMC!) was nothing to alarm the party.

Finally at the well, they worked the FRAYED rope from the spike and Brendon held aloft the FRAYED ROPE and BUCKET. “Got it!” He said (Add 2 Gallon Wooden Bucket [25] and 40’ Frayed Rope [2] to inventory). “Where to now?”

Time now is: 11:54
(OOC)
Success!
XP: Explore : Everyone add 30 XP (Oil trap room)
Lannis: Add 20 XP (Torch and Flint)

What’s next?

PBEM - Application 1, Wyn/Elf

This was the first of the 3rd set of interludes I had the group do for homework. Pretty much I wanted them to write 2 paragraphs about what they told the Academy of Explorers that made them get hired over other potential applicants. This was the first one for Wyn. In addition, I had everyone also write the same amount for 1 applicant (not them) that was NOT hired.

Follows:

WYN

~ “I told you the elves would return one day.”

“So right, Blessed Corfard. Your magnificence is dwarfed only by your brilliance.” The Adept picked its reptilian head off the ground and stared up with adoring eyes at its lord and master. “What will we do, Blessed Corfard? We are so small and weak compared to your greatness.”

~ “Hmm,” its voice was like honey covered gravel flowing across a moonlight sea. “I wish to learn about them, I wish to learn from whence they came.”

“Both Jowass Holefays and Gowan Sukiht have had some revelations about them, Blessed Corfard.”

~ “Kobolds have their uses, but they are few and limited. True, but I think a peer further back would be best.”

“Oh mighty and most vigorous of all beings, Blessed Corfard, will you do this?”

~ “I will call on the seas of time, the waves of eternity, the twists of fate, to peel aside and show me what I wish to know.”

“oooooooOOOOoooooooo!”

~ “Yes, yes. Clean that up when you are done. Now…BEHOLD!”

The room crackled with energy and a bolt of lightning tore from the sky and slammed down on the ground before the Adept, tearing the air asunder with the stench of burnt paper and ozone. Through the tear, a hole could be seen and in it a room with a half dozen older men and women in a well lit room where a mulleted molten sun colored hair elf in crude clothing was standing before a small table.

“Blessed Corfard! My eyes are disturbed! What is this that I am seeing?”

~ “The Elf, Wyn D’Endee,” came the reply, tinged with disgust and derision. “On the day he was to be assigned by the Academy of Explorers to be sent here.”

“For what?”

~ “To kill us all. Elves are nothing but murderers and thieves.”

“Blessed Corfard, I am frightened.”

~ “My presence will protect you. Let us see.”

The scene inside the torn up air shift and began to play, sounds echoed forth and the figures within moved. “Blessed Corfard! Such wonders.”

~ “Thank you, Adept. We are getting good download speeds, around 110 Mbps.”

“Blessed Corfard says things this worm is too stupid to understand.”

~ “It’s ok. Analog issues in a digital age. At least you aren’t 8 bit.”

“No Blessed Corfard. I wasn’t bit at all. But I did have to burn a web.”

~ “Not necessary, Adept. Next time just use a different proxy server.”

“Blessed Corfard?”

“Never mind, let us listen.”

"So, Master Wyn, what makes you the best candidate out of the other choices to be entrusted with this mission? Why you?"

The elf squared his shoulders and turned his attention to the members behind the table. “What be de mix ov dis group yous be puttin' togedder? Iffin it be 'umans, dwarves, en maybe a 'alflin', den Wyn be de elf dat cen round it out.”

“Blessed Corfard? I don’t quite understand elven apparently. Is there a way to translate this for me?”

~ “Hmm, let me check…Language is set to ‘Common.’ Let me see, damned remote, Ah! Heavy Accents is defaulted.”

“Can you fix it, Blessed Corfard?”

~ “No, apparently it falls just barely under the legal qualification of Common and in today’s climate, we cannot disparage against others ethnicity and cultural leaning. We will just have to pay attention carefully.”

Unlike odder elves, we swamp elves best at dealin wit de odder races. We cen listen to all opinions en respect de skills ov odders, encouragin' dem no madder dere race. Is dis topical? Oui. Oui. But it 'as been proven before deze recent events.

“He certainly sounds arrogant, Blessed Corfard.”

~ “True, all elves are known for their lack of humility and self-recognition. Listen onward.”

I cen shoot a bow good and know de dabblins of majeek en sword play. I also good wit de nature knowledge en got me sum sharp 'earing. But you get dat wit most elves. Me spellwork will work good in dis mission, Lighting up passages and Detecting de Majeeks around de castle, so dat sets Wyn apart, too...

“Blessed Corfard, we have done such a thing to the group’s Fighter.”

~ “Excellent, Adept! I am aware of that. We should blind them all and pluck out their eyes. But wait, he continues to speak.”

“He does that a lot, Blessed Corfard.”

But me greatest strength lies wit me ability to encourage odders to keep movin', keep ideas flowin' wit de problem solving, en 'elpin' odders to stra-tee-gize en make sure dere voices are 'eard. Most elves also not be carin' bout odder races or tink dey cen just do betta on dey own. Wyn also be good at keepin' de discord or-gan-ized. Most elves don't know what dat even means! Dat why Wyn be de elf for dis job. I gar-ron-tee.

The image froze and the Adept looked up with wonder. “Blessed Corfard, that was indeed wondrous.”

~ “Indeed. If the Academy sent this elf at us, I am also interested in seeing about any other elf who did not come at us.”

“Can you do that, Blessed Corfard?”

~ “Yes, Adept…BEHOLD! Hmmm…Seems to be part of ‘Special Features’. No direct observation. Ah! We have a ‘Behind the Scene Moment with Brendon’ that dictates what we are looking for. Let us just queue that up…and…Ok. Ahem…BEHOLD!!”

The view changed to that as seen over the left shoulder of a man with a nautical look to him. He was looking through the slit in the curtain at the same stage that Wyn the Elf had just been on earlier. This time there was another elf there and even though the man, Brendon, didn’t actually speak, his voice could be heard coming through the video split as if he was thinking it.

I would have never believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. It was wearing all red clothing and stood a little over 5 feet tall. I say it because I couldn’t tell what it was. Green hair with a tinted streak of bright orange. It was too tall to be a hobbit or a Dorfs, which lead me to think it was an human female. Did I mention it reeked of geranium?

“Blessed Corfard, what is a geranium?”

~ “A person from Gerania, Adept. I thought this was about an elf? Let us listen more.”

Why would she do this to herself and to apply for an adventure like this? She’s going to leave a scent for everything to follow and become the dinner of some critter. She started to talk in a low tone almost a whisper. Poor girl was probably abused as a child, low self-esteem I’d guess. “My name is Petlan Jaggalo, I am fourth born son on D’anldt R’Uump and proud house elf. I have served as a house elf for many years to a long line of scribes”.

SON !!?

HOUSE ELF!!?   

WHAT THE FUCK IS A HOUSE ELF!!?

~ “Hmm, haven’t heard of one of those since that transgender with the foot fetish Dobby sold out to Blessed Rowling.”

“Blessed Corfard?”

~ “Sorry, let’s watch.”

“I’m ever so comfortable in any position,” Blessed Corfard snickered here but the scene continued to play, “in the house but I prefer a shelf. I love playing games with kids like Freeze. That’s when I stop moving and they have to guess what I’ve been up to. I’ve been known to get into all sorts of mischief. I especially like the winter holidays are so very special to me, oh the eons of memories I have. I think I can bring excitement to any adventure.”

The scene ended and the Adept looked around disturbed. “Blessed Corfard? Why are elves so terribly terribly cruel, off putting, and hurtfully disturbing?”

~ “Little Adept, even the gods have no idea to that.” The hole shrunk down and eventually closed, taking the last image of the smiling elf away. “Let us be thankful that we ended up with Wyn and not…that one.”

“Agreed!”

PBEM, Episode 100 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

ONE HUNDRED

(I/C)
“Aha! Lannis exclaimed. "Before we go any further I would like everyone to acknowledge that I was right. All together or individually is fine. Say 'Lannis was right about Lolth' please. After that I agree that we should see what's behind these bricks, could be some kind of maintenance hatch."

Lyra scoffed. “Right about what? Being a nerd?”

Brendon shook his head, “Whatever, Bigbrain. Let’s form a line and pass the blocks to each other.”

Kovid stepped to the wall, looking them over, measuring which to take first. Meanwhile Brendon stepped next to the dwarf and Wyn was next to the Scout. “Dee line formin’ ees good idea.”

As the dwarf slowly worked the first stone free, Abraxas looked at Lannis, pointing to the next space in the line, the Magic User holding his hands up and shaking his head. “Not part of my skill set.”

The Fighter chuckled and after making sure the door was indeed closed, said with a whisper, "Trabajo bueno, Señor Lameness! You guess'ed that Lollith was involv'ed. Ahora, let's get these brickes over aqui. Ándale amigos. Mas rapido, pero, be quiet."

Lyra stepped up, helped with one brick, and then took over lantern duty, holding the light source high as Kovid teased the first brick free and passed it back. Once by one, the blocks came free and made their way to Abraxas who placed them in front of the south door under the desks propped up there, one on top of the other, then the next column braced against the first in an effort to best impede the door possibly opening.

One at a time the blocks were removed and the scent of oil grew stronger as the hole widened until the 32nd block was passed down the line and the group could look in.

It revealed a column type chamber maybe 10’ square and that went down into the gloom maybe another 10’ below the floor level. There was some wood scaffolding that had shifted and fallen in some time ago. The opposite wall from where the group was looking showed some sort of metal spring mechanism that was sitting correctly against what would be the floor level on the other side, the framework was bent and had some damage upon it. There was a torch in a sconce just below the framework and above the torch was a decent sized bit of flint with a steel striker attached to the springwork floor.

And below, at the bottom of the room, at some indeterminate depth, was a free standing amount of oil.

Brendon looked the entire thing over (Thief Int >12, no roll). “Hmm. Nice to see a trap on the opposite side of it going of. Ok, so, the room that’s over there on the other side…”

“Scriptorium,” Kovid offered.

“Right. Well, that room is set up to dump in this direction when the trap goes off, floor would drop down at least 3’ feet, wall would pitch forward and probably drop everything on it, then it would all slide down into this room. IN addition, that striker is set up in such a way that when the trap goes off would spray sparks on that torch in the sconce…and then the torch would be lit and DROP into that…large…pool of oil. Consuming whatever dumped in here and making a VERY large single fire blast.”

“Um…No.” Lannis shook his head.

“Why did ze trap no go off?” Wyn asked.

Brendon pointed to the bent frame. “Looks like something large and heavy slammed into that trigger point and wedged it closed. Trap wont go off, or is shouldn’t go off, unless something very heavy rests against it. See the fallen scaffolding? I would guess when the rainbow ward went up and the castle got all shook, it broke the scaffolding, and busted the trap.”

“So…eets safe?”

“Um no. It’s a room full of oil 10’ down of how deep I have no idea and the trap could POSSIBLY go off if something heavy was in the other room against the wall.”

Kovid sighed. “What now?”

Time now is 10:57
(OOC)
XP: Explore Classroom: 30 xp per person
Brendon and Wyn – Add addition 10 XP (scouting alone)
Brendon and Abraxas – Add additional 25 XP (roleplaying issue with Jowass)
Lannis – Ass additional 25 XP (Lolth guess)

Check out more? Less? What’s the plan

PBEM, Episode 99 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

NINETY NINE

(I/C)
Pointing to the north door, Wyn asked Brendon, “Monsieur du Lac, cen you check dat door, s'il vous plaît?” Meanwhile he was looking at the podium, rubbing his chin.

Brendon seeing the elf’s attention said while walking over to the door, “Podium? I was thinking the black board might move side to the side.”

Abraxas kept an eye on the hallway and Lannis looked down the hall longingly toward the hall with the Scriptorium. Meanwhile, Wyn ran his hands along the sides, bottom, and base of the podium and although some of the wood was ill fitting and loose, there was nothing hidden nor any special prods, knobs, or switches. “Zut alores.”

Brendon (>Hear Noise, Red 79) turned back around after giving the door a good listen to. “Nothing down here. And the door opens towards us. No locks on it.”

Snagging two pieces of chalk from the shelf (Add Chalk 2 to inventory), Kovid tapped Lyra and started picking up some of the classroom desks and chairs. “Before we start banging on this wall, maybe we should block this north door for now. There are plenty of desks. Bad zombies lay beyond it according to Jowass’s map. We don’t want them coming through. The sound will attract some trouble, no doubt.”

“Good idea,” Lyra agreed. “That’s actually a good idea. If we get caught up and make noise somehow, at least there will be a barrier to stop the zombies for a short time.” The two of them checked inside each desk, just in case (nothing to be found) as they propped up the desks and chairs one at a time against the doorway.

Meanwhile Abraxas was at the doorway, alternatively watching the activity in the room as well as scouting the dim hall in both directions. (<Listen, Blue 1) It was after a few minutes that he thought he heard some indistinct whispering. “Eh?” He tilted his head and stepped out two paces, crouching low and looking around. The sound ended, if it ever was before. (<Half Wis, Blue 2) “Eef I was a betting hombre,” he muttered, “I’d say it was coming afrom behind us, from the direction we had come from.”

He waited and watched and got low and high and the sound never repeated and there was nothing in the hall. “Mal,” he muttered, stepping into the room and closing the door about the same time that Kovid and Lyra finished moving furnishings.

Meanwhile Brendon and Wyn looked over the blackboard. Wyn tried running his hands under the shelf, finding nothing there either. He did take 2 of the remaining pieces of chalk (Add Chalk 2 to Inventory), And Brendon took the last 2 pieces there (also Add 2 Chalk to Inventory). “Ideas?”

The Scout stretched and looked. “6 brackets hold the board in place, one at each corner, and 2 in the middle top and bottom. 10’ wide, 5’ tall, bottom of the board is about 2 and a half off the floor. Thought it might have been designed to move, but doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“Pry eet off ze wall?”

“Beats smacking the wall with a pick.”

“I ‘eard a noise in the hall,” Abraxas offered. He proceeded to share what he thought he heard and the group gathered close, Brendon listening and Kovid and Wyn searching the hall with the Infravision (no roll needed) but nothing turned up. Just to be on the safe side, they closed the door again to the hall from the Classroom and Lyra placed 2 more desks and chairs in front of this door as well.

“Brendon?” Kovid asked, hand out to the Scout who handed over the 3’ Prybar. The Dwarf then worked the lower brackets free while Abraxas did the upper one. As soon as the last bracket was popped open, the blackboard slid down, the two fighters, the elf, and the scout all balancing it and preventing it from crashing down. “Back here,” Lannis offered, and the 4 of them moved the heavy board back and away, leaning it against the east wall.

Behind the blackboard was a section of stones that had been placed in the wall ill fitting and without mortar, shoved in place. The scent of oil was faintly noticeable. If removed, the stones would reveal a hole 4’ wide, 4’ tall, and about 3’ off the ground. “So…,” Kovid returned the prybar, “Do we take them out?”

Meanwhile, Idly looking around, Lyra noticed on the back of the blackboard, was written in faded chalk:
“Princess of Grain Morrigaan, Goddess of Moon Theystra, Queen of Monsters Lolth, Great Mother of Love Ishtari
Four Goddess make the Cosmic Square. Part of the Valance, Ever in Balance.”

“Um, guys?” Lyra whispered. “How do you guys feel about…Spiders?”

Time now is 10:47
(OOC)
And there we go! North door is seriously blocked, south door is lightly blocked. Concealed portal (not a door, not really) is revealed but need a few minutes to remove the stones with care, or about 20 seconds of shoving them hard and noisy into the next space. And we now know who Goddess 3 of 4 is.

PBEM, Episode 98 - Class, Oil, Scriptorium

NINETY EIGHT

(I/C)
While Wyn recounted the efforts of the scouting expedition, Brendon removed his right boot and wet his towel, removing his hose and then proceeded to clean his injured foot from Jowass’ assault earlier. Once cleaner and less bleeding was evident, he bound it tight and then put his hose and boots back on, all the while Abraxas was avoiding even looking in the Scout’s direction.

“If the book room is our next destination,” Brendon offered, “might I suggest that I check the room before anyone else enters. Just because the...little guys…didn’t trip a trap doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

"Can we go now?” Lannis said, muttering and frustrated. “I should very much like to get to those books soon. Feel free to search the room Brendon, but do try not to stab any of the literature, even if it is written in an untrustworthy tongue.”

“HA!”

The group looked over at Abraxas who was polishing his sword, the Fighter glancing back and adding, “What?”

After a moment, Wyn shook his head and disagreed. "I tink we shud check de chalk smell room first. Iffin' dat sketch of de rooms and dat book Offop read of de fire en oil trap ees true, we don't want to touch any of de books without checkin' de odder room dat seems connected to dee oil first. Dat would be dee chalk room. Odderwise we en de books could end up Plan B'd to deadd..."

“Hmm,” Kovid was looking over his map. “Perhaps Wyn is right, we should check out the chalk room, the classroom, first. There must be a way to access the oil, maybe it can be done from within this room without springing the trap.”

“You know…,” Lyra twirled her holy symbol in a lazy circle on the end of her finger. “Oh not bragging or anything but I have a fire resist spell... just reminding you guys. In case of fire. Or being set ablaze. Or SETTING things ablaze.”

The Fighter adjusted Grilljax’s skull on the thong around his chest, centering it before grabbing his shield and hoisting it in place. "I trust your wisdom Señor Wyndes, I will follow your lead. I will take up the rear flank just as how our group has decided to do things. Vamonos amigos."

The group left the Dining Room and returned to the hall, walking slow as they made their way down the hall, to the corner, and then to the left. They stayed in formation, eyes peeled and ready, passing the hall with the closed door to the hanging room and dimly could see the busted door closed and again in place. Eventually they stopped in front of the Chalk room and Abraxas stepped forward to open the door.

“Hokay,” he whispered. “Uno…Dos…” he turned the knob and the door opened in and to the left, “Tres!”

It was a classroom, and from the size of the CHAIRS and DESKS, it was set up for children. There was a DOOR on the other side of the room, desks and chairs for 20 students, and a BLACKBOARD and sagging PODIUM on the west wall. At least half a dozen fat pieces of chalk were on the wooden tray under the blackboard.

Brendon entered, followed by Wyn and Kovid, the Scout looking around for any traps, the other two immediately searching the WEST wall for any secret doors that might lead to the oil trap room as indicated. Although the Scout looked around (>Find Traps, Red 59) from the amount of footsteps about the chamber in the chalk dust and the relative use of the room, there were no traps to be found.

As far as the west wall, (>Kovid Secret Door, Yellow 5…>Wyn Secret Door, Orange 4) the two of them knocked on the wall, tapped, pulled, prodded, and twisted anything they could find but there was no doorway, secret or otherwise, to be found.

“I don’t get it,” Kovid muttered.

“Neizher do I,” Wyn agreed. (Wisdom check: Orange 7, Red 18, Yellow 20). “But,” the elf continued,” even though we do no ZEE the secret door,” he knocked on the wall twice, “there is a hollow space behind here. And,” he sniffed deep, “I can faintly faintly scent zee oil.”

“So…mine pick the wall open like the Medusa room?”

“No. We are not in zee basement and zee sounds will travel grande.”

The rest of the group entered, shutting the door behind them and discussed searching the place and other options.

Time now is 10:37
(OOC)
What are you guys doing now? Searching? Other door? Hacking at the wall? Moving on?

PBEM, Episode 97 - New Friends and Party Issues

NINETY SEVEN

(I/C)
"Cen we go to de book room now, s'il vous plait” Wyn asked, giving Abraxas and Brendon a hard glower. “Mayhaps dere be information in dee books bout de castle dat will be helpful to us." Getting a few half hearted grunts in reply, he continued, “En I tink Monsieur Dwarf mentioned someting from de first day we been 'ere bout oil from a trap dat we might be able ta 'arvest, oui?"

“Yeah. And Jowass did say that the kobolds never saw it or triggered it, so be Thor’s Balls careful.”

“Oui. De par-tee wait in de dinin' room while Monsieur du Lac en moi scout toward de book room? Or ees de torch supply runnin' low en we need to go all togedder?"

“No Senor,” Abraxas said, reaching into his back and drawing out of one his 4 remaining torches.

“Merci. Let us go.”

The group reentered the Ispan’s Castle and once the door was closed, the party gathered together again and walked slowly and with care through the Sitting Room to the Northeast corridor, and then followed it along, stopping to check each door along the way – until eventually arriving at the Dining Room.

“We’ll wait here,” Kovid offered, “While Brendon and the Elf scout ahead to the room marked as Books, not Chalk.”

“We’ll check them all out, just to be safe.”

“Thanks Brendon. Godspeed.” The 4 remaining friends waited until the 2 scouts left and then shut the door slowly and settled down to wait.

Abraxas was quiet, contemplating the recent events before clearing his throat and talking passionately. "Comprendo que Lakack intended. And if el grupo made the decision to kill Joe-Ass, I would have understood that too. Pero, que NO comprendo es that as a grupo, a TEAM, we made the decision to let Joe-Ass go. To head home to Jector, or die in the wilderness, whatever, as long as he was away from este Bastille, which he made promise. And Brandoon Laknas took it on himself to decide against the group, and do what he wanted to anyway.”

Lyra sighed, ““Alright. While the “exchange of feelings” is healthy and probably needed, we should all reconsider this for another day. Jowass is gone and jawing about it while everyone’s nerves are raw and on high alert is probably not helping us to gel as a group.”

The Fighter shook his head. “You unnerstand Layra, he NO trust your intuition, my honor, Kuvoid's wisdom, Wynses' pact making, or Lannisismos' intelligence. He made a selfish decision, and while I thought he was a selfless scout before, now I'm thinking maybe Señor Kovarned was right calling him a thief,  un bandito,  all this time. For he stole our trust, stole our right to make a decision, and tried to steal Señor Joe-Ass' life.”

The Dwarf nodded his head, fingers playing with a line of mortar on the wall. “I Agree, Manling. Do not dwell on events too long... but do not forget them either. You were in the right Abraxas.”

“Si. I appreciate that, Senor. All that being said, I do apologize amigos. I didn’t feel right sending Señor Joe-Ass on the trip defenselessly, so I returned his dagger to him. I didn’t know how the party would feel about it, so I hid it. I admit that, and lo siento that I hid it. I was wrong not to inform yous. Seeing how things worked out though, I am very happy I did. Does giving him a chance to defend himself and hiding that from the party make me as untrusting worth as Breendon? No sé. That is not for me to decide, and unlike Brandana, I will not make that decision for you. Lo siento a tus, mis amigos. But I would have done it again if giving the choice.”

“The knife was your weapon to give,” Kovid replied. “The thief will have to earn back our trust. In return, I hope he will respect our decisions, our group decisions, and act accordingly from now on... or by Thor’s balls there will be hell to pay.”

“Also, I will just point it out, how many traps or locked doors has he actually scouted? We, both you and me, Senor Dwarfbeard, have been made a fool numerous times. Should maybe Brundun be the one to open things from now on?"

“Nope,” Lyra shook her head, arms folded across her chest, scowling. “If we’re going to have this discussion, we will have it together or you’re all losing a cleric. I’m not dealing with this broken party, divided team shit. I agree what he did was going against our decision and if we collectively have an issue we talk about it together, not behind his back. When there’s divide in a party, people die. One of US dies. Sort this shit out or I refuse to be a part of it. A stupid crown isn’t worth it. Next time we’re not exploring let’s all get a glass of wine, sit on a comfy sofa and talk about how we feel or whatever gross shit you guys want to do. ” With that she plopped herself down petulantly on one of the chairs.

Lannis rolled his eyes and looked under his fingernails for some imagined dirt. "Yeah, sure, whatever Abraxas.” Lifting his gaze he focused on the cleric. “And Lyra, calling you people children wasn't an invitation to sit on that chair and pout.”

“I need your attitude like a splinter in my ass, Lannis.”

“Hmmph.”

Meanwhile, Brendon and Wyn crept north, eyes peeled and senses sharp (WMC: Red/Black 3). So far only distant noises abounded. At the corner, torch burning, they looked around the bend and saw nothing untoward so began walking. Brendon pitched his voice low and whispered, “I’m glad you understand where I was coming from. It’s not that I don’t trust the others. It’s just…” He paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing softly, “Let’s just say I’ve seen this choice before and I’ve lost a close friend as a result. So if I have to live with them hating me so be it, but at least I wouldn’t have to mourn them.”

"Do not mention eet, du Lac,” Wyn whispered in reply, the two of them inching their way past the north hall that lead to the hanging room and the stairs – empty except for old blood stains, the doors both closed. “I undastand where you be comin' from and know you meant to do right by us all. I just glad we got some good info from dat kob... so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Sometimes I 'ate when I 'ave such good ideas like takin' prisoners for in-ter-ro-ga-tion... gonna tink twice bout dis next time... onto de scoutin, oui?"

“Wyn, thank you again, it’s good to have a friend.”

They continued on, moving with care (<Move Silently, Red 21..>Move Silently, Orange 17) through the halls. At the enxt door, marked as “chalk” smell, Brendon gave the door another once over (no roll needed) still finding nothing of interest. “Door’s not locked, Opens away from us.”

“Oui, and I kin still asmell the chalk.”

They continued down the passage, heading further west until they could just make out the distant kobold door at the end of the hall, a passage turning north from here, a door on the right hand side about half way down. The two made it to the door after 8 or 9 paces and Brendon gave the door a once over (>Find traps, Red 79) while Wyn went another ten paces to the end of the hall and a bit outside the torch range, his infravision kicked in. The hall was at least 40’ or so, and there was a door on the right hand side. No heat sources and straining, (>Hear Noise, Orange 8) heard nothing nearby.

He returned to Brendon after a few minutes who told him, “Door closed, some use on it, handle’s filthy. Faint, very faint smell of oil. Not locked, opens away from us.”

“Head back?”

“Yeah,” he frowned, “Let’s let the rest of them know what we discovered.

The two friends made their way eventually back to the Dining Room where they were met by the other 4, extinguished the torch to use again later (40 mins remaining) , the Scout and Fighter not making eye contact with one another, and shared what they had learned.

Time now is 10:27
(OOC)
Ok – Chalk Room, Book Room, and Hall beyond with another door on right side. Currently lantern has about 2 hours of oil in it. What’s the plan?

PBEM, Episode 96 - New Friends and Party Issues

An entire exchange without a single dice being rolled. Just lots and lots of discord and emails back and forth. Lots

Follows:

NINETY SIX
(I/C)
“Seriously,” Lannis barked, stepping between the two men squaring off with one another. “This is ridiculous. We don't have time for this, nor do we have the luxury of having an argument in this courtyard.” He looked around, eyes darting through the rainbow ward to Acreage. “While it would be convenient if we could all just drop this and move on, but I doubt the rest of you are rational enough to do that! Failing that I say we just kill Brendon, we put Jowass to the same vote and the circumstances weren’t that different.”

“Listen Magic User…” Brendon began but Lannis continued speaking, words clipped and angry. “This run of annoying decisions has led us to this wholly unpredictably dumb situation. Just let the lizard go. Now.”

“That was THE plan, Senor Lantkiss,” Abraxas snarled.

“Brendon is neither our mother nor our nanny, and it isn't his job to make decisions for us.” Turning to the Scout, Lannis let his hand curl into a fist, staring the scout down. “Brendon, next time you want to countermand a decision the rest of us made? Don't. If you do, don't blame me when "Let's just kill him" comes back up for a vote.”

Brendon shook his head while Kovd stepped up, holding the Scout back. “I’m not eating crow, I stand by my actions. Just because the kobold made puppy eyes at us after he was captured and brought Abraxas back to his memory of wanting to go home? I can’t get over that 10 mins earlier that THING was trying to kill us. We’re in an above ground terror dungeon. We’re here for riches and what does Abraxas do? He gives away a weapon we could use later and it’s worth real coin.”

The kobold shook its head, “Big words human. But YOU tried to slit my throat FROM BEHIND. I answer you in honesty, you reply in lies. When this is all done, I will go home with honor, you will remain here with suspicion. What happens when that one, or that one, or that one,” he pointed at other members of the party, “does something you don't agree with? You cut them down from behind and say it was for the best? I can look at me self in the mirror; you have stained yourself and are an oath breaker and backstabber. You Are A Robert!”

“Enough, Manling.” Kovid said. The dwarf turned to the kobold, “Jowass. You are free to go as agreed. Brendon here, broke your trust, but he also broke ours and there will be consequences for that behavior. I fear they will dire. Accept my formal apology, warrior to warrior and leave this castle without further bloodshed. You were an honorable foe, my kind respect that. Go in peace.”

“Thank you, Dwarf. It was my intention and still is,” Jowass was breathing hard, but the anger in his form was fading.

Brendon scoffed. “Ask yourself this question: Have I ever believed that someone was being truly honest just to find out you were wrong? If it’s never happened then I can understand your reaction. I know Doc was caught up in the moment of feeling for it. Do you remember a few minutes ago when we needed daggers to save Kovid from his melting armor. You may not condone my actions, but to give away items the party might need to survive.”

“You still don’t get it, Robert,” Jowass answered, hands thrown up in disgust. “I could have killed you, and you would have deserved it. I did not. Instead I come here to your Warren, your tribe, and say my goodbyes again. They have seen the ugly inside of you and your ugly actions. Even the elf, known for their brutality and bloodthirst, did not do this. He had honor, you are a cur. You live because I did not kill you. Remember that, pendejo.”

Wyn who had been quiet stepped forward, eyes hard, voice level and measured. “One 'opes ye cen understand dat 'ee was only tryin' to protect 'is team. Dis ees not a matter of 'onor. Like dee rest ov us, Monsieur du Lac... um dat the one dat tried to stab ye... Like de rest ov us Monsieur du Lac made an oath to work with da team en keep dem safe. Like you mayhaps made a deal wit de Grilljax to work fer him as long as 'ee kept you safe. Dat not work out, as Grilljax broke 'is oath by bringin' ye dead back en not lettin' dem pass on.”

“Correct, Master Elf.”

“But du Lac just tryin' to do what he THINK 'is oath was. Scout out po-ten-shal danger... sure, 'ee may 'ave ova reached dat task to dis situation, but dat what he tought he was doin'.” He paused, gathered his thoughts, and continued. “We all make de oaths, Monsieur Jowass. En sometimes it be difficult to balance dem properly. You do not know where du Lac's life took 'im. What 'ee may 'ave lost in de past, what mistakes may 'ave been made, en what mistakes 'ee wishes to prevent in de future.”

“Aye, Senor Wyn,” Abraxas interrupted, “but that goes for all of us, why should Brendon’s thoughts and opinions overrule the rest of the group?”

The Elf paused briefly and then continued talking, struggling to keep his voice even and modulated. “So what oath shud 'ee keep? De one ta you, who 'ee just met, en who previously tried to kill us? Or de one to de team he be livin' en travelin' with for days en days? Iffin' your job was protectin' yer clan... protecting those who you swore under oath to ye name... en you tought one of US was a threat... what would you do in dat situation? Would you just let us go?”

“I’d keep my word as given. All you have is your word, Master Elf. And if your clan, your Warren agrees to do something and you don’t agree with it, you STILL have to put the needs of the clan over your selfish interpretation of what you think is right.”

Wyn shrugged. “I can’t argue. Dis is not de civilized world we be in... dis be de wilds. We all 'ave de oaths to keep, but it be up to you to choose which ones you wish to keep above all odders. Wit dat said, mon ami, as Monseir Dwarfriend stated, you be free ta go. Dat be an oath I give to you. May Nergal's reach stay far from you dis day.”

Lyra shook her head, hand on Brendon’s arm, directing him to resheath his sword. “Trust me, I get it. I’m mad. There was a priestess in that room and I want justice for her. But we agreed in good faith to let him go. He’s been truthful thus far, it won’t hurt to put a little faith in others, even when we don’t want to.”

“Priestess,” Jowass offered. “The bodies in the room where the cloaks are? That is the work of the goblins, Milady. Anyone they find the Roberts beat them for answers and then the Roberts direct the goblin to torture, kill, and mutilate them – putting the bodies in that room.” He shuddered. “They would hack off the hand and foot to prevent Grilljax from being tempted to raise them as zombies, but mutilating people is NOT the kobold way. It is a goblin thing. You die, in battle or old age? We plant you in the ground to make rot for Nergal and food for the next creatures to come, worms, bugs, slugs, then soil, grass, plant eating animals, and then hunters 4 legged or two. It is a circle of Nergal’s will that we kobolds try to adhere to.”

Kovid smiled, looking at Lyra. “So, goblins did that?”

“Si. Not kobolds.”

“Then Lady Lyra, I will gladly help you in your vengeance for the fallen Priestess of Aine.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Brendon whined. “Really? Just going to flat out believe his bullshit?”

“Senor, he has been honest. You have not.” Abraxas turned his back on the Scout and faced the kobold, placing his hand on his shoulder. “This is not who we are. This is not who I am. Deepest regrets Señor Joe-ass, this was not what we had in mind. Lo siento Señor, this is not what I meant at all. I gave you the dagger hoping to help you on your long troubled path home to Jector. “ Turning to face the rest of the party he added, “For basic food and protection.”

“Bullshit,” Brendon muttered.

Glowering at him, Abraxas turned back to Jowass, “No sé a Señor Lakaras would attempt to harm you. He was WRONG for that, even if he feels he was correct by sticking to his oath. He acted against the party wishes. We will deal with that as we have to travel with him and continue our mission.”

Jowass sighed, “I don’t envy you and your problems to come, Senor.”

“Gracias. I regret we are departing on terms malo. I prefer to remember how we left things antes de stabbing. If you had felled him just now, you would have been right to do so in your defense, and yet you showed more mercy and restraint than perhaps any one of us. I will remember this. You have shown me something I can only hope to attain to myself. Again, I apologize, and hope if we meet again, it is in good standing.”

“As do I, mi amigo.”

The two of them shook hands again and Abraxas finished with, “Lo siento Señor, lo siento. Vaya con dios, mi amigo.”

Jowass finished the hand shake, bowed low to Abraxas, and then returned the bow to the rest of the group, with the exception of Brendon.

Wyn cleared his throat, “Safe travels, Monsieur. Just a reminder, iffin you come back to exact yer revenge on us for what just been 'appenin' from du Lac, I tink you might be findin' whedder de elf nightmares you been told be true o not.”

The kobold chuckled. “Worry not, Senor Elf. My time here is done. There is no revenge I would need to exact on that ROBERT, that he has not already done to himself. He has poisoned his own well, shit on his own feet, and fucked himself in the ass with his actions. In your group of six, he will from now on be a group of 1 – part of but not exactly trusted on a going forward by the rest of you. His own actions are revenge enough for me.”

We watched as Jowass strode confidently across the field, elven towel draped across his shoulders, dagger swinging comfortably as he made his way to the shield and then under it, getting lost in the streets of Acreage and then gone.

Lannis cleared his throat, giving Brendon a withering glower. “Now can we please go back inside? Like dealing with children..."

As Wyn discarded the parts of Grilljax in the tomato plants, he rest of the group made their way back to the door, the dynamic of the party subtly shifted as Abraxas refused to make eye contact with Brendon, his back stiff, muscles tense, and face red. And Brendon was marching along as well, staring silently, eyes narrowed, muttering aloud, “so the other dagger we found Abraxas has to save to give to his long lost friend on the second floor?”

“Brendon,” Lyra hissed. “Give it a rest, will you?” She turned to Kovid. “So it wasn’t the kobolds that killed and defaced the bodies. It was the goblins.”

“And you know what I like to do with goblins?” Kovid asked. He bent down, picked up a tomato, and then tossed it ahead of his stride before stomping his boots heavily upon it. “We’ll wait inside for the elf, and then I think we’re going to discuss where to go next.”

Time now is 9:52
(OOC)
Whew! This will I am sure NOT bite anyone in the ass at some point! Good job everyone. Where to now? Scriptorium? Chalk/Classroom? Someplace else?