PBEM - Episode 261. Rehashing Old Ground.

The group picked up a wandering monster and it just wasn't close enough to spot them, but it did follow them. And the group did not want to tangle with Hoots unless they had to.

TWO HUNDRED SIXTY ONE

(I/C)

There was a skritching noise as Kovid relit the lantern, light once again flooding the wreckage of the chamber. “Light’s on. Let’s go,” he muttered, stepping up right behind the Scout.

“Butcher’s first or straight to sulfur?” he asked as he stepped out and listened south, satisfied that the orcs had moved on.

"Pretty sure we said sulfur room first,” Lannis whispered, “sea water must be bad for the memory.”

The group hit the hall, turning south and heading back for the stairs going up. “Yea, agreed. Straight to the sulfur room,” Lyra replied nervously, Mace…Flail, it’s a flail, not a Mace. A Mace has a rigid shaft to support the heavy hammer weight and a flail has a chain instead allowing the weapon’s head to strike at a faster speed and do more damage. Yeah. FLAIL. Ahem…replied nervously, Flail held firmly in her grip. “We shouldn’t stop for anything. If there’s enemies, we might even want to try to find detours. No way of knowing if they have a way to alarm everyone else.”

As Brendon climbed the stairs to the top of the landing, satisfied no one was up there, Wyn also added, “Sulfur, du Lac. We go to sulfur first. We move. Tout de suite.”

Chuckling from the center of the pack, Lannis snarked, “Huh! Who knows though, Brendon. I could be wrong. There’s a first time for everything."

At the top of the landing they continued south to the “T” intersection at the Main Hall, Kovid glancing into the room that used to have the hanged Hobgoblin in it, as well as all the dead orcs we had stacked there. The room had been going under a reconditioning. “Thor’s Balls,” the dwarf swore.

The room had all the furnishings removed from it, leaving just the bodies and what seemed to be 2 large wooden boxes. Each of the over dozen orcish and hobgoblin bodies had been going through a flensing, where the skin, muscles, and sinew are removed from the corpses. It seems that most of the meat on the many bodies had been dumped into the boxes, leaving the bodies rather macabre and haunting as they still had their heads and faces but only raw meat and bones from below the neck.

Wyn peered in and just dry swallowed. “Let’s move on ‘afore my hatred for deez swine get de better o me.”

At the T, Brendon held his hand up listening (<Hear Noise +20 bonus, Red 27). “That way,” he pointed to the east. “Faint, in the distance, something moving. Regular sounding. Patrol would be my guess.”

“Coming this way?” Lyra asked, no one else in the group hearing anything.

“No. Can’t tell. Too distant. Just echoes. We’re good.”

“West, mon ami. To de Sulfur chamber, si vous plait.” Wyn tapped Kovid and motioned for the dwarf to move on. “Don’t look on de handiwork of de orcs. Dey are animals.”

As the group moved on, Brendon led us towards the statue chamber down the long hall. Kovid sighed, shaking his head. “I hear you, but did you see? Ugh. Speaking of, anyone else counting Orcs? Eight upstairs, five down here... think that’s it or more?”

Wyn shrugged from behind Lyra. “8 EVIL orcs upstairs. 5 orcs down here... though it’s possible that some of the orcs down here are the same ones since we were in the jail for a few hours.”

“Senors, they were making Dia de los Muertos decorations from their dead amigos. Sounds malvado to me.”

Kovid and Wyn chuckled. “Dat is a point.”

“Catharandamas mentioned 'THE Orc having his own mission'... wonder what they were up to,” The dwarf shrugged. “Anyway, Sulfur Room first for the bandages.”

"Si, Si, Rapido amigos, vamonos a el room de Sulfur.” Abraxas kept checking behind them as they made their way further and further down the hall, still seeing nothing behind them. “Limpiamos the ban-dah-jes, then check out El Carcinera's, si? Then miramos por aqua y oil, correcto? Andale, let's get a.... como dices... move down? Move out? Move...on?.. is. Let's get a move on."

At the statue chamber, Brendon led us in after a quick listen. The biggest thing different? The Ballista was missing. “Ah…fuck.”

“Oh, oh, Kovid I’m calling it now, that is going to bite us in the ass,” Lannis was covering his chest and shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure they didn’t just take it out to get it waxed you know.”

“Senor, it’s a huge war machine, they cannot set it up and shoot you while you duermas.”

“So where’d it go, Swayze? Think they took it out to get the tires rotated?”

Kovid held up his hand. “Wherever it is, we’ll address it at our convenience then, ok?” He shrugged. “Maybe they took it upstairs already. If so, they saved us the trouble.”

“Si! Would not want to try and lift it around the curved stairs. You ever mover un sofa? Dolor in de culo!”

The group moved to Grilljax’ chamber where Brendon checked the area where the throne used to be. “And they took the bolt as well.” He pointed. “That’s where we hid it.”

“Fucking shoot me in the nipples,” the Wizard growled. “I just know it.”

At the door, Brendon stopped to listen (WMC: Red/Black 1 – yes! Thanks’ Kelly. What: Revised WMC: Red/Black 3. Hahaha. 1-3 Ahead of the group, 4-6 Behind the group. White 6 – Behind. How far? 3+5=8x10 = 80’) and then after a moment, went BACK across the room to listen to the other door that we had come from.

“What’s up, Sparrow?” Lannis asked.

Brendon made a violent shushing motion and stayed there another few seconds before heading back to the group. “Company. Behind us. Don’t know if it’s coming or not, but you know the long hall that leads to the Butcher’s? I think it’s about there.”

“What is it?”

From somewhere behind us, muted behind a few doors and part of a hallway, the group could hear a muffled “Grrrrrhooooo---HAAAAAaaaaa.”

“Fucking Hoots.”

Abraxas gripped his Scythe tightly, eyes flashing with concern on another fight with the overpowered ursine. Kovid pointed south, whispering fiercely, “He doesn’t know where here. And as Lyra said earlier, we go. So let’s go.”

The group poured through the door and down the stairs, closing the portal behind them. At the base of the stairs where the cold in the hall was making their skin shiver, they opened the door to the east and made their way down the long, long hall of questionable length, lantern lighting the way ahead of them as they made their way finally at long last to the corner turning south.

(Hoots following? <Green 5 – yes) As they made the turn, just shy of the stairs going up, Brendon held his hand up so the party could listen…and from down the hall, and beyond the door they had closed, they could hear another door opening up with a heavy fumbling action, and a querulous voice sounding out, “Hrrrooo? Hrrrrrooo—HAAAAaaaa?”

Time now is Day 7, 3:10 PM

(OOC)

Hoots is following the group, but it doesn’t seem like he has their scent or is hunting them – could just be ‘wandering’ about. But it means somewhere about 120 odd feet behind you in an inquisitive Owlbear with the bad luck to be following the group down the pretty much one way so far that leads to you. If you guys have a plan, go to ground, stand and fight, hide out somewhere, think about it and let me know! Good luck!  (And for those curious: Hoots has 42 hit points, three attacks with a fourth potential, and an AC of 15)

PBEM - Episode 260. Rehashing Old Ground.

TWO HUNDRED SIXTY

(I/C)

Brendon turned around fast, motioning for the rest of the group to go, everyone double timing it back to the former Spymaster’s room. Abraxas was there, motioning everyone in, whispering, "Vamonos amigos, andale, andale, rapido,” as each party member retreated. Glancing back at the top of the stairs they could see a growing light source coming closer. Knowing it was going to be close (Combative speed: Party Steel 3 vs Enemy Red/Black 2 – Party wins), but at the Scout slid into the chamber, Abraxas spun in right behind him, the elf already shutting the door in place.

Just inside the room, Lannis pointed to Kovid’s lantern, the dwarf turning swiftly to shield the light, turning the flame down and capping the top to smother it.As the room dropped into darkness, Wyn eased the door closed, letting it shut fully before letting the latch ease into place with a barely audible click. The group had fanned out around the door 2 ranks deep weapons and spells hot as they watched the barely discernible portal amidst the gloom.

The voices spoke near the top of the stairs, clearer as they echoed down the stairs. “Orc,” Kovid muttered. “They’re speaking orc.”

“Fuck doze tusky bastards,” Wyn mouthed.

“Shh,” Lannis hissed. “I’ll sleep them if they come through the door Otherwise. Shh.”

They could hear the voices chatting and Kovid and Wyn did their best to translate what they could hear.

“What you see?”

“Nothing.”

“What you hear?”

“Something on steps.”

“Hmm. Globrock, take torch, move back to room.”

A brief pause. (Find, <Black 3 – yes!)

“Ah! See, steps.”

“Fading.”

“Heading north.”

“Could be Hobgoblin or goblin patrol.”

“Too early but one third of a glass. Also, they’d have given signal and not double back.”

“Leave! No more move. Let’s hunt.”

“About time. Let’s go.”

“Eat them. Rend them. Kill them.”

Movement coming closer, heavy treads, moving quickly and with purpose, many of them. (Hear Noise/Find, >Teal 13 – no!)

Going past and hitting stairs.

“Track them. Track them. Faster. 500 silver reward to whoever finds where they are hiding.”

Sounds moving away and fading to the north.

The group waited another minute until Brendon was sure that they had moved far enough out of possible hearing range. “Ok, we lighting up and moving on? Or do we stay here? Either way, it’s very dark.”

Time now is Day 7, 2:55 PM

(OOC)

50% chance to spot the footprints in Infravision, and then 30% chance to note the door closed/heard breathing behind it. All good! Right now you have a small window to leave Travis’ Room and continue South – if you want.

PBEM - Episode 259. Rehashing Old Ground.

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY NINE

(I/C)

Looking very uncomfortable, Lannis shook his head and pointed further west. "I say we try to sneak past, we don't know how many there are, or if they're ready to alert someone. If they don't know where we are, let's keep it that way."

 “Agreed. Let’s move,” Kovid whispered. Wyn was nodding yes.

Stepping off, Brendon agreed with the group. “With the constant roaming groups looking for us,” he mouthed quietly, “we should get to where we need to go. We’ll ignore these guys for now, I’m sure we’ll see them again.”

The party moved on (Enemy Hear Noise -2 penalty distance, Black 7 – no), moving past the area and proceeding westward beyond the Beekeeper’s chambers. Lyra was anxious to get to our destination. “We’re in no position to pick a fight right now. If we make too much noise we’ll just attracted the upstairs squad. Let’s keep going and just get to the sulfur pool.”

As they approached the former wolf chamber, Kovid asked the party, “After the Sulfur Pool, what else do we need to check? Aquifer for fresh water? Destroyed oil trap for any usable residue? Butcher’s room?”

Voice rumbling from the back, Abraxas offered quietly, "I'm all bueno with either path. However, we could use mas candles, pero stealth may be our best option por ahora. I think we should avoid una lucha until we are closer to una place to rest. But yes, the Butcher’s should be one of the places we go to."

The elf was watching everything with exaggerated care. “Allons-y to de west side. I tink after the Sulfur, we check de Butcher room first to see how bad tings be? 

At the former wolf room, one of the changes here was rather jarring. The stink of urine was gone and the room had been stripped of everything. Instead there were a row of cages on the east wall, 3 rows or 4 cages – each about 2’x2’. They had doors that opened in the front and latched closed. Currently there was nothing in them and there was no sign of what might be in the wire mesh cages later except the entire situation seemed avian in nature.

They moved on to the major turn south and after listening (no roll) and hearing nothing, the party turned in that direction and pressed on. The passage was clear but there were signs that the party had been here before including some of their exploits (faint odor of something burnt in the air). The door on the eastern wall that lead to the elven guardsmen was open and the mummified bodies had been obviously disturbed, turned over, moved about, and stacked unceremoniously in the corner. Shaking their head at the needless disarray, the group continued south.

At the stairs just below Travis’ room (WMC: Red/Black 5 – no) Brendon stopped to listen again (no roll) but was comfortable we are ok. The group went up the stairs carefully and looked around. The door to the secret chamber was gone, leaving only the pivot holes in the floor and ceiling. The goblins that were once here long gone as well. Travis’ room the door was open and there had been a serious tossing of the room. Bed was dumped over, sheets torn, mattress slashed, pillows burst, cabinets ripped open, nothing in the chamber was spared and the place was a mess and a danger to walk through – but no one was here now.

Brendon led the group onward down the hall to the last set of stairs going up and he took them with care, bow out and eyes peeled. He stopped about6 steps up, hand raised and motioning the group to stop. The party could hear faint movement (# Appearing: 1d4+2 = Blue 3 = 5), as if something being dragged up there. Brendon (<Hear Noise +20, Red 17) tilted his head and then stepped back one step and whispered to Kovid and Lyra (closest to him), “5. Orcs. Just beyond the top of the steps. Hollow sound to their movement. I’d guess, they’re in that room with the dead Robert hanging and all the dead orcs we stacked in there.”

“What are they doing?” Kovid whispered back as Lyra passed the information to the rest of the group.

“Don’t know. Moving something. Furniture? Do I go up and take a look or do we fade back? Do we attack or what?”

(Enemy Listen: <Green 3 – yes). Brendon turned back to the top of the stairs. “Shit, I think they might have heard us. Fade back to Travis’ Room or what?”

Time is now Day 7, 2:50 PM

(OOC)

5 Orcs – can’t tell what type or what they were doing exactly, 20’ past the top of the stairs in the hanging hobgoblin room, something/someones are heading to the stairs to check on a “what was that? Dunno, strange noise I heard.”

PBEM - Episode 258. Rehashing Old Ground.

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY EIGHT

(I/C)

Abraxas rubbed his neck in thought, holding his hands up for Wyn to toss him another candle. "This seems the safest place por ahora, amigos. The halls are fill'ed with enemies, and it seems none of them have a key. Perhaps The Duchesseses' favor can be bought? So we should remember that next we run into her.

“I agree with Doc,” Brendon said. “We might as well finish cleaning the items before moving on.”

“If and when we do go, high alert, people,” Lannis offered. “Maximum nipple protection. As for your thought, Antonio, it does seem like Duchess is a scout of some kind, that's good to know"

The Fighter nodded, lighting the new candle off the dregs of the old one. “Perhaps an offer to pay her debt may avoid a confrontation altogether, if she truly is only here for money. There's still 200 coronas each waiting for us back home once we get that crown. So maybe we can just pay her to leave us and be on her way, cuando we cross paths.”

Kovid picked up Lyra’s flail, the Cleric smiling sheepishly as she handed it over. He turned it around and squeezed a tiny pit of polishing paste out before going to work on the weapon. He pointed east to the Jail door, “Still pretty busy out there, might as well capitalize the time we have. When I am finished here, perhaps we do another sweep on the first floor for resources and to clean our bandages. We are familiar with the floorplan down here as well, in case we get into a fight. Taking out who we can in known territory would be to our advantage." 

The Magic User smiled. "If we give them your map they'll never find us, good thinking.”

Kovid flipped Lannis the Friendship Finger and returned to his work. Abraxas sighed, “Maybe once the Statue and Flail are back in working order, we can go to the Sulfur Pool and restore the Ban-dah-jes. Hope Hoots can take down some more of the Hobs, Gobs, Robs, Bobs, and Orcasas before we get back."

Stretching to loosen up and then rooting in his bag for lunch, Brendon suggested, “While we’re down here should we stock up on water and hopefully meats? They might have left the food in the freezer.” He frowned and then suggested, “If we’re going to the sulfur room and we don’t need to orbs, could they be sunk in the pool?”

Munching away on her own lunch, Lyra laid a hand on the dwarf and sincerely said, “Thanks for this, Kovid.” The dwarf nodded in reply, corner of his beard lifting slightly to show his smile. She then looked over at the Scout and exclaimed, “And oh! Yes we should hit the sulfur pool. Cleaning the bandages is a great idea - as for dumping the orbs, are we sure they’re no use?”

“We don’t want them to be a use for Corfard,” he replied.

“Everything we’ve pretty much left behind to “get to later” has been taken, broken, or turned to slime. I’m not sure of this being a good idea.” She shook her head. “And the sulfur pool is not clear, is a gaseous burbling grey pool of noxious water and the crystals would either be forever gone, never sink, or who knows what. I think they are safer with us.”

“I guess,” Brendon gave his rations a deep stare before taking another bite. “Maybe we could eat some turkey tomorrow and be thankful for being alive.”

“Dat I kin agree wit, mon ami,” Wyn smiled. The party ate lunch in silence while Kovid worked on cleaning the flail and distant patrols continued to make their way around the Ispan’s Castle. As the impromptu meal was being finished, the elf asked Lannis, “Monsieur Offop, cen I borrow yer read language scroll for de hour? I want to copy it into my book while we waitin fer de shining crew.”

Lannis took it out and handed it over, looking at his Detect Invisibility scroll and shrugging. The two of them drew closer to the candle and proceeded to write the spells into their book. As they were about to start working in earnst, Wyn absently asked, “Monsieur Offop, are you goin to retrieve yer arrow from Dobbie? I tought you wanted to do dat."

The Magic User raised a single eyebrow and looked at Wyn over the top of his own tome. “Lestat, you can take the scroll, sure. But the arrow? Why would I do that though? Arrows are for people without real power."

“I’m pretty sure he meant me,” Brendon replied, heading off to the cell with the goblin in it.

“Then he should have said you,” Lannis answered snarkily.

“Tanks, Du Lac. Dats what I meant.”

The group heard Brendon in the other cell and then a “snap”, followed by a muttered string of curses and the Scout coming back out with a sour expression. “So, where’s the arrow?” Lannis asked mockingly.

“It’s going to be up your ass if you don’t knock it off,” he answered to the tune of the wizards chuckling.

The rest of the time passed without issue. Wyn and Lannis finished scribing their respective spells, Kovid finished cleaning the Flail and then spent an hour (and another one of Wyn’s Candles – dropping the total to 1) polishing the Statue once again. As for the outside, Lyra and Brendon had paid extra time and attention and it seemed that about every half hour, another patrol made its way through the local halls – meaning the group could move and soon in one of the windows after the patrols had moved on.

Closing up everything behind them, the party made their way to the main door and about 5 minutes after the last patrol had moved on, Kovid relit his lantern (2 hours, 25 minutes of oil currently remaining at this moment), and then entered the hall beyond the Jail with Brendon leading the way and Abraxas taking up the rear.

Wyn made it his business to lock the Jail again and the group lined up ready to go. Bow, Hammer, Flail, Bow, Magic, and Scythe – the group proceeded to make their way through the rough stone corridor south, ears perked up and eyes searching.

Since they had already been through here and mapped it before, they were able to move at a slightly faster pace and still maintain good party discipline and caution as they travelled on. In five minutes they approached the western “T” and (WMC: White 2 – no!) hearing nothing in any direction, turned to the east, making their way in the direction of the BeeKeeper’s chamber. Along the north wall was the open door that had lead to the Orc Barracks at one point and the group had the chance to look in through the portal.

The chamber had been tossed. Beds upended, tables thrown, the bear’s carcass was gone. Any place that looked like someone could hide had been searched to the extreme. Even the large crate that Brendon hadn’t gotten a chance to look in a few days ago was missing. Not open, the entire 3 foot square locked box was missing. “Fuck,” he cursed quietly. “Bet it was filled with treasure.” Clapping him on the back and muttering his sorrows with a smile, Kovid goaded Brendon to keep going and the group went on their way.

They passed through the open door that the Orcs had used to fire arrows at Lyra’s back; a fact that had Abraxas and the Cleric looking behind them with some minimal concern. From there they headed on eventually hoping to make it to the Sulfur Chamber when they arrived at the Beekeeper’s door. They could hear voices and Brendon peeked in (empty) but the sounds were coming from further into the room. The Beekeeper’s chamber did eventually lead to the portcullis room and we stopped to listen (<Hear Noise, +20 bonus being quiet, Red 45).

“That’s goblin they’re speaking,” Brendon whispered back. “Deeper. Hobgoblin’s I’d guess.”

“Roberts,” Abraxas muttered. “Cuantos hay?”

“How many?” He paused. “Not a lot of chatter. Only hear 2 different voices. But it sounds a bit like a heavy guard position.”

“So more than 2?”

“Yeah. That’s my guess.” He looked back. “Sneak past here, they are at least 40, 50 feet away and through a pair of rooms and a short corridor, or go in and take a look?”

Time now is Day 7, 2:40 PM

(OOC)

Don’t want to make assumptions for the group. If you run into any possible real pockets, I’ll stop the narrative and let you guys decide what to do.

PBEM - Episode 257. Looking for Safety

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SEVEN

(I/C)

Dropping the dead goblin in one of the last cells, Abraxas wandered back to the rest of the group and whispered, “Que ahora, amigos? Que es next? Donde vayamos?”

“Go?” Lannis huffed. “We aren’t going anywhere, Pointbreak.”

"I tink we gonna be here a while,” Wyn replied, a wheeze detectible in his words. Settling down, he took out one of his remaining candles and lit it. “At least an hour or more, if we be lucky. Orc tempers cen run hot fer a while, so it be better iffin we cen wait dis out. We should probably switch to candles while we be in here to conserve oil.”

“On it, Wyn,” Kovid looked at the 4 tarnished weapons as well as the Corfard statue, then randomly picked (1d4: 1 – Hammer!) up his own Hammer and took out his precious container of metal polishing paste. Tilting his ear towards the door he sighed, "Sounds like we should expect company at some point. Let's sit quiet and I'll clean one of these weapons as fast as I can."

“I’ll just sit here and contemplate past decisions and how they end up being poorly thought out,” Lannis moaned.

Brendon was walking slowly back and forth down the main hall, fading into the shadows as he entered the various cells and listened to the walls where able to. Lyra reached over for the paste, giving the dwarf an inquisitive look. He nodded and pushed it towards her, muttering, “Just a little. And it’s more elbow grease that raw muscle.”

“Got it,” she replied and started work on her own Flail, her motions not nearly as skilled or expert as Kovid’s but still an effort.

Tapping Lannis and then pointing to the tarnished Ishtari Rod, Wyn picked it up after getting an absent hand wave and walked to Kovid and the candlelight. “Monsieur Dwarf, I know I not be nearly as good at it as you, but you don't get as good at swinging a sword as Wyn is without also knowing how to clean a weapon. If you cen share dat cleaning solution, I will work on anodder weapon with you. Between the trois of us, I tink we cen get all quatre of dem done in de next deux hours.”

“You’re welcome to try. Many hands make light work and all that,” he said.

“So dwarves are into group gropes?” Lannis asked.

“Just concentrate on keeping air in your lungs, Big Brain. Dwarves aren’t into group activities, sounds like something your mom might have exposed you to.”

“That’s not the only thing she exposed to him,” Brendon’s voice carried out of the gloom.

“Hey,” he exclaimed softly, “not cool.”

“Whatever, Big Brain.” Kovid chuckled slowly as he worked the paste and rag into the weapon’s fouled surface.

“We aren’t going back up to the second floor when this is done, are we?” Abraxas asked after a few minutes of comradely silence. “The Sulfur Pool? La Carcinera's? The Kobold Warrens? Do we stay aqui? Most of these places have been discover'ed and smash'ed I would think. Pero, no reason for there to be enemies staying in them. There will most certainly be patrols on both levels ahora para uno tiempo. So what is the plan?"

“Sulfur room might not be a terrible idea,” Lyra whispered, head bent to the task. “They might not look there. I’m still not above leaving the damn castle for the night either.”

Watching Wyn clean the Ishtari Rod, Lannis leaned forward and started to keep up a running commentary. “You’re doing fine, Wyn.”

“Your people are descended from the Fairy race, I can tell.”

“Just make sure to work up and down, don't twist too much.”

“You've got dainty fingers.”

“Make sure you really work one into the hole on top, clean it out so it doesn't misfire.”

“I swear, Monsieur Offop,” Wyn growled, “someone is gonna stitch your lips closed one day. I gah-ruhn-tee it.”

“I still don’t understand one word in four that you say, you are aware of that aren’t you?”

About fifteen minutes later Brendon held his hand up for the party to be silent and sure enough, shortly after that we could hear armored figures running down the halls. They were moving quick and passed to the south. Another fifteen minutes passed and another batch of moving figures could be heard roaming around. The party grew concerned as the wandering figures drew closer and tried the door, shaking it in place to verify it was locked before a deep goblinoid voice answered back, “Lock and clear, Leader!” and then moved off and away.

We could hear the screeching sound of the portcullis opening up to our west through the wall, and figures going out and in from the castle there. And still MORE figures could be heard wandering the halls at odd times over the next hour. Kovid laid the now gleaming and cleaned Hammer to the floor and picked up the Scythe to begin working on that weapon next. Wyn and Lyra were both about halfway done with their efforts and as the candle was guttering low, an additional candle was lit from the dying wick (remove another candle Wyn – down to 3).

From somewhere in the castle we heard the warbling echoing cry of “HROOOHAAA” as someone encountered the owlbear, and from the distant crashing sounds and repeated cries of the beast, Hoots was unfazed with the goblins and such bothering him.

And STILL we heard more moving around to our west as figures were going in and out of the castle. It was almost an hour and a half later that we heard figures coming up the corridor towards the jail again and the group once more grew silent and listened.

“Can’t believe that snaky haired bitch fucking left.”

“It was bound to happen, Mira.”

“Treacherous whore. She could have stoned even one of the Corfard Damned infidels before she turned tail and fled.”

“It happened.” There was the sound of something rattling around the door, small scratching noises of metal on metal. “I’ll tell you this, it would have been nice to have the key.”

“Even Seth didn’t have one. And stop wasting your time, 4 months you haven’t been able to pick it.”

“Where the hell is Travis’ keys, huh? Fat speed freak had his own ring, I swear he had one for the Jail.”

“If you didn’t try to pick his pocket the day you met him, Duchess, maybe he’d have let you take a look.”

The metal on metal sound stopped, followed by a quick slam of a fist against the door. “Fuck it. I hate this place.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“Because, Mira. I owe a shit ton of gold to the Unbent Banners in Jector and this job is going to help pay for it.”

“You’ve got to stay out of the Throne Room, Duchess. I can’t keep covering for you.”

“That wasn’t me, this time.”

“It doesn’t matter. Catharandamus has Blessed Corfard’s ear, and it’s his voice that is damning you girl.”

“Fuck that Salamander. Because of him, there is no crystal – Corfard’s or Halgafar’s. Not my fault.”

“How’d the hell the infidels do it?”

“Who knows, Mira. But I’m not going to go down like a chump if they come close. Just keep my pouch full of potions and I’ll take them out one by one.”

A heavy sigh. “Duchess, luck and magic won’t always have your back.”

“Maybe, Mira. But my blades work best when no one knows I’m there.” Some feminine laughing sounded out and then many footsteps walked away.

“Come on, Duchess. Let’s go see if we can find out where these rabbits have run off to.”

“I’m telling you, Mira. They’re upstairs somewhere, I just know it.”

After 2 hours the party had finished up their work (Lyra: >Int check, White 20.. Wyn: <Int check, Orange 11) and Kovid had cleaned the Hammer, Abraxas’ Scythe, and Wyn had done a good job on Lannis Rod. However, Lyra’s Flail was still pretty tarnished up and the Cleric sighed deeply in exasperation. “This didn’t work.”

“No shit, you think?” Lannis chuckled.

Kovid took the weapon and looked around. “I can work on this one, will take an hour. And if you want, I can do the statue as well. But it means we’re still here. Or do we go out there and take our chances?”

‘”It’s still pretty busy out there,” Brendon advised. “We kicked over the bee’s nest for sure.”

“What do you guys suggest?” Kovid asked. “Either way, this candle’s pretty much done.”

Time now is Day 7, 12:25 PM

(OOC)

Rod, Hammer, and Scythe all radiating magic again. Flail and statue are muted.

PBEM - Episode 256. Looking for Safety

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SIX

(I/C)

Wyn shook his head. "Move on, Du Lac! No time to search here. Need to continue falling back.”

“Roger.” Brendon stepped on, ignoring the noise and the unlatched laboratory door. “Dobbie, the House Goblin, still have the arrow in his face?”

“Du Lac, you can pull de arrow out of its face later. Allons-y!"

The Scout chuckled quietly, “Really Wyn with everything going on you’re worried about one arrow.”

Moving quickly, holding the hem of his robe up as went past the door, Lannis scolded, "We need to make ourselves scarce, nobody touches anything, no need to leave a trail for our pursuers. Got that? We touch nothing."

As they hit the stairs, leaving the halls behind them and the distant roaring of the massed enemies as they scoured the far northern halls, Kovid pushed ahead, "Stairs, just get to the stairs. Watch out for the Floating Pixie Swords of Cowardice over the doorway to the stair room.”

Right behind the dwarf, Lyra shifted her shield up a bit and repeated, “Floating pixie swords of... oh THOSE. Ugh, those fucking swords. Wasn’t there a way to deactivate them?”

“Someone may have reactivated them," Kovid frowned.

“Damn, sorry all that blood loss really knocked that memory from my head.”

“It’s alright,” As soon as Brendon arrived at the closed door, the dwarf added, “Blessed Corfard…has no dick.” And nodded to the Scout.

Who opened the door to show the illusionary trap was disarmed for now (Good job Kovid!). The group ran up the hall and came to the next door, where they forced it open and found themselves in the watch tower. The bags of leaves were still here and they went to go to the circular stairs down when they could hear SOMETHING very big, and draconic, ROARING in anger.

“FIND THEM!!” It howled out! “FIND THEM AND BRING THEM TO ME!!”

“I guess someone told his magnificence that not only is his ward down, but both crystals are missing,” Lannis sighed. “Move move move. Touch nothing! Go go!”

The party redoubled their pace as they went round and round the stairs and then passed the stone statue and down the very long length of steps back to the lower levels. From behind Abraxas goaded the group on, "Rapido amigos, vamonos. Let's keep moving. Maybe we throw the Gob to the locutuses?”

Taking the steps almost 2 at a time, Lannis hissed, "What did I just say? No touching! I shouldn't have to specify no throwing things at locusts."

Shifting the dead body back up to his shoulder, Abraxas asked, “Then maybe we hold it to throw to the Owlbear when we cross paths again?”

“Great,” Brendon growled, “Forgot about that little tidbit.”

“We ‘ave left a trail o’ a few unresolved issues behind us,” Wyn noted.

The group hit the former Trog room where Brendon went and checked to make sure the lever was in the “OFF” position for the landing trap, before opening that door and leading the group further down the next flight of stairs. From somewhere above, we could feel the faint vibrations as who knows how many minions of Corfard were running to and fro up there trying to find us or where we might have gone to ground.

As they hit the landing and then further down to the catacombs, the chirping of the locusts echoing very loud from the north west, they went east and moved on, the dwarf’s lantern giving them much needed light (fleeing: Lannis, Wyn, and Brendon slowing – lowest CON scores to navigate the caves by.

The Scout was beginning to slow down, breathing hard as his run was reduced to a jog. The elf and magic user were also showing the strain, Wyn gasping as he ran on, and Lannis was holding his side as a stitch was working its way up his side.

Seeing the group’s flagging movements, Abraxas sighed deeply and prodded Lannis on gently. “Should we go straight to the Sulfur pool? Clean the ban-dah-jes right away? Then find a safe space? We can check La Carcinera's - it's most likely been trashed, but there may be no one there ahora. Jails seem too close for... como dices...  comfort."

Kovid shook his head. “I don’t know, but close or not, I don’t know how much longer we can risk fleeing at this pace. You ok, Brendon?” he asked.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve, the Scout nodded wordlessly, arms flailing a bit as he staggered on, leading the group beyond the cave with the yellow fungus and taking them through the twisting corridors south of the Jailer’s. “Let’s just get there,” he managed to gasp out. “I can make it.”

The group went on (WMC: Red/Black 3 – no!) and they could see signs that Hoots the Owlbear had been by here again, but the ursine was not here now. They ran onward (Lyra next to get winded), the Cleric tripping at one point as the strain of running was sapping her strength as well. “Fuck. Aine damn it,” she cursed as she bounced off the wall, the group running the last 30 or so paces to the jail itself.

“You…you…you ok, Priestesse?” Wyn managed to ask, the elf’s face looking decidedly pale as he fumbled at his side for the key ring.

“I’ll make it,” she coughed as the group finally arrived at the Jail. The lock showed numerous scratches on it, and the frame had small dents in it as if a crowbar had been attempted to force it open, but the Jail door had held without issue and after passing the key up to the Scout who took it with tired hands, he shakingly opened the door and the group filed in one after the other until the door was closed and locked from the inside.

They made their way further into the cells, no different than when they had been here yesterday, where they found a place to sit in the open rooms and with fading adrenaline, dropped their weapons, bags, and shields to the floor and took a collective slow and shaking breath.

Time now is Day 7, 10:25 AM

(OOC)

Kovid – Add 25 xp (Corfard Trap)

Detect Evil spell is over. 3 party members need 30 minutes rest, 1 needs 10 minutes rest – currently operating at -1 all checks and rolls and move 3 / 4 speed tops.

What’s the plan?

PBEM - Episode 255. Looking for Safety

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY FIVE

(I/C)

“Hang on,” Brendon whispered back, “Let’s check the chest and wardrobe for a minute.”

“Brendon no time for searching now,” Kovid admonished, “We’ll be back.”

“But it might contain torches or something of use later,” he pointed into the empty chamber, “Then I’d say let’s find the other secret spot for sleeping.”

“No time to search here,” Wyn said, turning south, “Need to fall back.”

Readying a dart, Lannis agreed. "I wouldn't advise it’ we got spotted going into the tunnel, wouldn't take one of them with half a brain to puzzle out where we might come out.”

“Poseidon’s balls, I forgot about that,” the Scout lamented, heading south as well.

The Magic User added, “We should leave now, while we have the chance."

His own bow at the ready, the elf suggested, “I say we head downstairs to the jail, lock de door behind us, en wait dis out fer a few hours."

"Si! Vamonos Amigos.” Making sure the rest of the group was ahead of him, Abraxas took up the rear of the party as they filed their way down the south hall. “Let's get somewhere where Señor Korg can bring back majik to our weapons. Que about the Alchemist's chamber?”

“That seems real close,” Lannis sucked in his teeth.

“Si! We know he's not in there ahora, and there's no real reason for Corflairs to think estamos en there. It is closer. Y we may be able to look around sin interruption en there. Y cuando the Teleporting Gob comes back, of estamos there still, we can take him out.”

Kovid shook his head. “Too dangerous, and that still places us possibly with 20 plus goblins at our doorstep.  I agree with the others, we go south and around, and back down the stairs.”

“De nada. Solo es una thought." Abraxas looked back longingly. “Still coulda set their stuff en fuego.”

Positioning herself right behind Kovid, Lyra chuckled softly, “I’m sure we’ll get another chance to rob the orcs blind.”

“Can’t wait,” both the Fighter and the Scout muttered.

At the end of the hall, Lyra held up the party and pointed west. “Ten points of evil just showed up. We got closer or less stone. But they are filing their way north. Just wait a minute, ok?”

Brendon nodded. “How soon before they figure out where we are?”

“Not long,” Lannis whispered. “We’ve got to get out of here without leaving any trace or trail.”

"We cen't fight dem wit yer weapons like dat,” Wyn muttered, “en dere be too many of dem to chance dem findin us."

Once sure that all was good and the evil presences had moved on, Kovid handed his lantern back to Wyn briefly, stepped forward and used his infravision to check both directions, then stepped back and hissed, “Long hall both directions, no heat sources.”

Brendon nodded. Keeping the bowstring taut and the arrow pointed down, the Scout motioned the group to follow and he stepped into the hall and started moving to the east. He had taken 5 steps, Kovid right behind him, when a lone goblin walking south, appeared at the end of the hall, and stopped to look at the group, mouth wide in shock, a double handful of dried leaves in its arms (Surprise Check: White 2 – surprised!).

In less time that it took to blink, Brendon lifted his bow, drew back, and fired swiftly, already breaking into a run to get there (>+6 to hit, Red 12). The shaft flew with a silent ‘phew’ noise and struck the goblin (1d6 Damage, Red 6 and killed!) in the face, drilling through its left eye, and spinning it in place. “Thor’s Balls!” Kovid swore silently, the rest of the group running out of the hall and to the east.

The goblin was killed and based upon its clothes was most likely a menial type of some sort with bags on its feet for shoes and wearing a scrap of burlap that was tied in place. “Why the hell was he carrying all those leaves?” Lannis muttered.

“We gotta go,” Brendon said, scanning the hall north and south and seeing nothing but castle stone. He pointed north. “There, there’s the corridor.”

“What about him?” Kovid asked.

(Lyra: <Half Wis, White 5) “Take him,” the Cleric said quickly.

“What?”

“What do you think is going to happen if someone stumbles on him in the next 2 minutes? We’re screwed. Aine save us, but take him. And another thing…he did not show up as EVIL to my spell. So that means there are other NON evil minions up here. Take his ass and let’s go.”

There was some faint noises south and east of where we were echoing from the corridors but nothing was coming closer (for now) and nothing was immediately identifiable. But the party took Lyra’s words to heart and Abraxas hoisted the dead goblin onto his shoulders and gave a thumbs up. “Vamanos. I’ll dump the body somewhere on the first floor.”

The group wasted no time walking through the main hall, nervous that they might be spotted as there was LOTS of excited noises coming from far down the north hall. But they made the corner by the Lab and made the turn there to go up to the Watchtower when Brendon stopped the group. “Door,” he whispered.

“What?” the dwarf asked.

“It’s not entirely closed,” he said, voice pitched very softly. “It’s open maybe an inch. And I can hear movement in side. Something…metal?” He looked back and mouthed. “Sneak past? Or we going in?”

Time now is Day 7, 10AM

(OOC)

Explore XP: Teleporting/Summoning Room – 45 XP – everyone except 55 xp Brendon and Lannis.

Detect Evil – 20 minutes. Lab? In or sneak by?

PBEM - Episode 254. Frying Pan, and Fleeing.

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY FOUR

(I/C)

Lannis pointed ahead. “We’re going in. Boys, girls, and horses of all ages, it is time for us to go. Let’s get moving.”

Nodding in thanks, and pulling his bow out, Wyn said, “Tanks fer draggin me outta dere mes amis.  Guess we should have left dat damn elf stone active till we made some more progress in de castle, huh?”

“You think?” Lannis scoffed. “I think we should just get out and down to safety somewhere.”

“We are going through the door, if the Orcso door is open, we should look, no?” Abraxas asked.

Pushing the release stone for the southern secret door, Kovid added, “Believe it or not I tend to agree with Lannis. I think it’s wise to find a place to hide downstairs, where we can take the time to clean our weapons. We’ll need them to take on the Guardians. There’s too much activity up here right now.”

As if was opening, Wyn pitched his voice lower and said, “Once we get to de summonin room, we should, As Monsieur Salazar suggested, check en see iffin de door to de nord orc room is open en iffin any orcs be in dere. If dey are, we would need to deal wit dem before continuing in.”

“Fine,” Lannis groused, wringing his hands together, “but if you insist on checking the orc room do it quick."

As it opened fully, Brendon stepped in first, bow out and arrow nocked. “Let me take a quick look, amidst my throbbing head and whatever guilt I’m sporting right now.” The summoning/teleporting room looked no different than it did earlier – pillows, design on the floor, etc. However, the north and the south doors were both current wide open, and the group could hear some very faint and echoing noises coming through the south door.

The Scout went to the north door, dashed his head in and back and again, then did it once more and nodded at the group. He then skipped to the south door and scouted through it again, before waving the party in. “Clear.”

As the party entered the room, Kovd waited until they were all in before shoving the secret door closed again. “Let’s use the south door. I bet it takes us back to the main hall that connects to the stairs. After all, the orcs went this way to get to the throne room.”

Heading over there, eyes peeled and looking intently down the south door, Lyra agreed. “Let’s start heading down the stairs, figure out where we’re going to on the first door. The Jail isn’t a terrible idea but way too close to the stairs for my comfort, they will find us. I was thinking a bit further south-west.” The south door showed a short hall that ended at another door –that one was ALSO open. There was a “T” intersection that way and another door at that part of the “T” – but it was currently closed. She concentrated on her Detect Evil spell, to the north there was lots of muddied points of evil and lots of stone muting her vision – but to the west was a slow moving singular point of evil walking north down what she assumed was another passage in that direction.

Brendon, Wyn, and Abraxas meanwhile were looking through the north door to what was obviously a bedroom of sorts. There were two triple bunkbeds, the bedclothes were rumpled and messed up. A large wooden chest was in the northwest corner of the room, a closed wooden wardrobe was on the east wall, and a single stool was in the middle of the room. To Wyn’s eyes (Elf hatred +2 Int check, <Orange 7) the signs were obvious. “Orcs. Dis is where some of tem putain sleep.” He squinted and sniffed. “And dere be dog hairs on ever’ting. I would guess dey have a big dog or a wolfhound as well.”

(WMC: Red/Black 5)

“Ok, enough with the looking. Can we go?” Lannis asked, pointing south

Time now is Day 7, 9:55 AM

(OOC)

Detect Evil – 25 minutes. We going? And if so, where and marching order?

PBEM - Episode 253. Frying Pan, and Fleeing.

This was pretty bad. There were a lot of contingency emails and Discord for this turn. If this, then that. I do this if this doesn't work. Etc. It worked out, but it fell to the two lower hp and physically weakest party members to take some licks and save the other two. And Corfard's people now know of this secret hall. So that sucks for the group.

Follows:

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY THREE

(I/C)

Brendon wasted no time, reaching down to grab Abraxas and drag/roll him towards the open secret door. “Kovid! Need you!” he called out.

Kovid and Lyra looked back, seeing some of their friends on the ground, charging over. Meanwhile Lannis stepped out of the opening, snatching the Fighter’s other arm while he called back, “"Hey Mighty Mouse, Black Caviar come and help or get the door.” Turning back he frantically told the Scout, “Brendon follow my lead, I'm very smart."

The two of them pulled with all their might (Str check +4 bonus: =Pink 14, >Red 15), dragging the Fighter towards the open door, Brednon tripping over Abraxas as he did so, righting himself with a terse curse. “Fucking shit! He’s heavy!” Once inside the door they turned back and ran to Wyn to repeat the process while Kovid and Lyra skittered up, reaching down to help drag the Fighter further inside the doorway.

And the Throne Room door opened, slamming to the side, a heavily cowled and robed figure ducking low as two orcs with bows and two goblins with slings spinning stepped up and scanned the room swiftly (1-3 spot party: Red/Black 1 – yes!). On seeing movement, the goblin shouted out, “SOUTH WEST!” and the foursome fired their weapons just as the red warrirors began to move and the snake started to uncoil from the box.

(Private initiative: Lannis/Brendon Steel 3 vs Monsters Red/Black 5).

“Ignore the Red Warriors!” a lizardlike voice called from the hall. “Target the infidels!”

An orc fired its arrow (>+3 to hit, Black 14) at Lannis who had Wyn’s wrist gripped tight, the wizard dragging the elf to safety, where it sunk (1d6 Damage, White 5 – take 5 Damage!) deep into his thigh making his scream in pain. A goblin sling stone then whizzed across the chamber (<+1 to hit, Black 3) but passed at least a foot to Lannis’ right.

The other orc shot at the Brendon (<+3 to hit, Green 14), seemingly going to plunge into his chest but the Ring of Protection flared a tiny bit and turned the arrow at the last instant where it flew to the side instead, tracing a line of fire along his shoulder but no real damage (missed by 1!). The last goblin slinger though had better aim and as the Scout was entering the secret hall, his sling stone (>+1 to hit, Green 20 – Critical Max Damage – take 3 Damage!) struck the Scout right in the head with a meaty “THWOCK”, promising to raise a serious goose egg before the day was through.

And even though they were being hit, the two men refused to give up and dragged their unconscious elven friend (Str check +4 bonus: <Pink 6, =Red 13) and skipped through the portal just in time, bleeding and freshly hurt, as Lyra helped finish pulling them in and Kovid was in position to close it. He could see the red warriors ready to strike the orcs and goblins when the lizardlike figure in the hall called out, “Strike the Elven Warriors, NOW!”. He saw the undead snake shift its focus and spring out of the box, bowling into the elven warriors who were momentarily torn in their directive, before turning as one and slamming red swords into the snake’s side. Seeing enough in those 2 seconds, Kovid slammed the door closed, dogging the lock closed with his foot.

Lyra had bent down and was slapping the shit out of Wyn, calling , “Wake up! Wake up!”

The dwarf looked down the hall and whispered fiercely, "Come on, the Orcs to the south have left, let's wake these two and try to duck out the back."

As Wyn was coming conscious, Lyra nodded vigorously. “Kovid is right, we need to leave immediately. Best case scenario right now they think that goblin caused all the shenanigans. At worst, they’re going to start searching for us. We need a lot of distance.”

“Priestess, we have worst case scenario,” Kovid muttered, pointing to Lannis and Brendon (6/11 and 10/14 hp respectively.

“Aine damn it!”

“Should we hit the Vault or not?” Brendon asked, holding his head and feeling the welt that was rising.

Kovid was getting Abraxas up, with a number of pokes, slaps, and shakes. We could hear the sounds of combat beyond the wall to our north and Lyra felt out, getting the sensation of at least 25 points of evil up around the Throne Room door, with the stronger yellow evil of the snake not fading or weakening. From the hall to the east, MORE pinpricks of evil, at least another 15 or so were making their way north, along with rhythmic chanting in goblinoid with their voices rising together and singing out, “Goblins! Goblins all around us!”

“No stopping at the Vault for anything,” Kovid admonished. “Abraxas and Kovid have the crystals and they are safer with us for now. I also took 2 days of food previously and can share if needed.” He looked the two of them up and down. “You both might be annoying and we rag on you, but that was a pretty bad ass and brave thing you did.”

Hopped up on adrenaline and too sore to comment, both of them nodded their thanks and helped get the elf and fighter vertical.

Getting Wyn and Abraxas up, they draped their arms over their shoulders, both men being dragged and prodded south to the other door by Lannis, Brendon, and Kovid while Lyra leaned against the door and listened hard (no roll). “I can’t hear a fucking thing beyond here,” she hissed, “And I don’t see any evil anymore on the other side of this wall close by.” She looked back, “Do I open it? And if so, where are we going?”

Time is Day 7, 9:50 AM

(OOC)

Detect evil has 30 minutes left. Wyn and Abraxas are now awake. Party is at the south secret door. There are almost 40 points of evil at the entrance to the Throne Room and it sounds like the zombie snake is fighting the 6 elven guards. What is the plan?

PBEM - Episode 252. Frying Pan, and Fleeing.

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY TWO

(I/C)

Lyra pointed to the door. “Enough shit, we should leave. Now!” She picked up the speed, heading for the opening. “Don’t leave any tracks to the secret door.”

Turning fast, Kovid called back, “I suggest we make our escape FAST,” ducking through the secret door and heading south the check the other door there. 

Just before she jogged through, Wyn called out, “Priestess,” and tossed her the ring of keys. “Vault. Open de door in dere.” He turned back to the throne, looking along the left chair leg. “Salazar grab de elf gem! I close de door behind us.”

As Abraxas grabbed the Ispan’s Cyrstal (30), Brendon saw what Wyn was doing and shook his head. “I don’t think popping the guards would be a good idea. The smoke will obscure the snake’s vision and it’ll come after us.” He dug out his carved pig statue and dropped it on the pedestal that Corfard’s crystal once sat on. Sweeping his Lesser Elven Cloak off his back, he started sweeping it back and forth against the floor to hide any tracks we might have made as he jogged backwards toward the secret door. “I fear it will show anyone coming in that there is something behind the wall.”

“Noted Du Lac,” the elf replied, sitting quick and stomping his heel down on the trigger stud. Red smoke billowed up briefly obscuring the room and 6 elven warriors in platemail and sporting red swords appeared. 

Abraxas was pushing Brendon ahead of him as the sounds of banging and hammering hit the main door. "Vamonos Amigos. Let's get the fuck'ed out of aqui. ¡Andale, andale! Move, move, move!"

“Move it!” the Scout called as Wyn started to run down the dais.

Calling to the guardians, Wyn ordered, "Attack whatever comes into de room trough dat door!"

Kovid had his ear against the door (>Hear Noise, Yellow 14) and although he couldn’t make out anything specific, it certainly sounded like a fuck ton of armed and armored orcs were running through the Summoning Room and charging SOUTH and out the door in there.

Lannis was just inside the corridor, looking out at his three friends running for the portal, Brendon being dragged back as he swept the floor clear of signs of our passage (BX Baby -2 Int <Red 1 =- Perfect!), the elven cloak doing an admirable job as Wyn groaned, “Dat is NOT ‘ow you treat it, Du Lac!”

So he was in the perfect position to see a point of red light appear in the middle of the room that BURST out with an outrushing of air and a goblin in a strange set of clothes covered in pockets and bulging bags and pouches appeared, a set of copper bracers on his arms glowing strangely, a scroll in his hand, most of it covered in words of fire, and it looked over at the running group and finished the already preread scroll with the last word…”ZU!”

“Fuck,” the Magic User cursed.

Two things happened. One, a spray of rose scented smoke slammed across the chamber and hit Brendon, Abraxas, Wyn, and Lannis (4d4 hd: 3+3+1+2 = 9). Brendon was unaffected (level 5), Abraxas slumped over and fell asleep (4th level), Wyn crashed to the ground unmoving (3rd level), and the remains of the spell settled on the wizard (4th level) but its effect was already overtaxed and it broke apart immediately after striking him.

And Two. A harmful spell was cast in the presence of the Ispan’s Throne Guardians and they ATTACKED! They moved as fleet as galloping horses and surrounded the goblin artificer before he could do anything, their red blades slamming down and around the greenskin, some of the blows being turned aside by some force a foot or so surrounding the goblin, but not enough to stop him from being struck multiple times (+7 to hit, >19, >11, >12, >14, <7, <6). He bent and howled and spun as he was thrust and slashed again and again (1d10 Damage: 8, 4, 6, 7 = 25 points of damage and ‘dead’.) before he fell over and collapsed to the group unmoving.

And still the snake did nothing. The guardians were standing around the fallen figure. Abraxas and Wyn were asleep just outside the secret door. Brendon was outside the secret hall, Lannis was just inside the secret hall, and Lyra and Kovid were on the other side of the secret hall unaware of what was going on but both feeling good at the sound of the orcs running away, a fact that she had confirmed with her Detect Evil spell.

And someone was getting a key in the lock at the front of the Throne Room.

Somewhere in Lannis and Brendon’s imagination, they heard something begin counting down from 20.

Time is Day 7, 9:47 AM

(OOC)

You have 20 seconds to get the door closed or you’re found. Wyn and Abraxas are asleep on the wrong side of the door. Brendon is on the wrong side of the door but awake. And if you are thinking of going after the artificer, he’s across the chamber and surrounded by 6 elven spectral guardians.

Talk to me.

PBEM - Episode 251. Frying Pan, and Fleeing.

The party deactivated the other crystal which had the obvious effect of dropping the entire Rainbow Ward - and alerted the entire castle that someone was in here. So it was game on and go go go for the party.

Follows:

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY ONE

(I/C)

Kovid reached out and slid the now inert Corfard’s Crystal (30) off the pedestal and into his backpack.  Lannis gave the dwarf a hard stare and asked, “What the hell do you think you are doing?”

“What’s it look like? Going to take this one with us so Corfard can’t reactivate it.”

The wizard nodded, brows rising. “Oh!”

The cleric smiled, clapping Kovid on the shoulder. “I agree with him - let’s take Conford’s crystal, that way he can’t decide to put it back to use.”

Once it was away, the dwarf replied, “Thanks Lyra.” Giving the Magic User a critical glance, he asked, “What’s next Big Brain? Are we doing the other crystal?”

"Ya know Szalinski,” Lannis sighed, “it's rude to not call people by their names. But since you asked, yes, let's do the other one, repeat what we originally did over here, assuming you heard what I just said from all the way down there, I imagine there's an echo."

Lyra moved to the other pedestal, taking her flail back out and giving the prismatic gem a serious once over. “Um…shouldn't we just leave the good crystal? Do we know EXACTLY what will happen if it’s removed? 

Abraxas had also moved over, keeping his Scythe away from the gem at this point. "Si! If we remove this other docadexaheadroom, does the Rainbow Ward completely fall? Es que malo o bueno? Do we want the Ward up or down?”

“I tink dat Monsieur Offop has indicated and I agree wit him, dat our chance to come back in ‘ere again later to do dis might not be possible and since we are ‘ere now, we should just get it done.” He pointed towards the wall and presumably outside. “De ward is already comin’ down afore dis and it didn’t stop all dose beasts and baddies of coming in ‘ere.”

The Fighter nodded. “I'm good with what ever el grupo decides.” He spun his Scythe about so it was blade forward and bounced the butt once against the floor. “Let's do este.”

“Thanks for the help, Elf,” Lannis tossed towards Lannis.

“Sometimes you ‘ave good ideas, Monsieur Offop. You ‘ave to dig trew de bullshit to find dem, but dey are dere.” HE shrugged, “If you din’t ‘ave any idea, I would be also willin ta lissen to de dead snake an’ just watch de Throne Room door. So you aren’t too far ‘bove the minimum base line, ya know.”

“Um…thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” He waved his hand and sat back on the throne, leaning to the side and waved imperiously while grinning broadly. “Now go do your trick, mon ami.”

“Say what you will, this is pretty damned exciting,” Brendon commented.

“Ugh,” Lannis took up his place around the slowly oscillating crystal. “Ok, we’ve done this twice before so you all know you places, marks, and things to say. Do what you need, say what you gotta, and touch the crystal with the Goddess Weapon. Let’s make it count, everyone ready? Adventurer’s…Assemble!”

“Ready!” “On it, Big Brain.” “Ugh, you are such a spazz.”

“Bite me, Broodmare.” Lannis lifted the ritual of the Dawnlands one last time and read it, each subsequent party member taking their turn and touching the gem as applicable.

“The Sun Rises in the Dawnlands

It is our charge to keep the Darkness at bay

By the Bounty of the Princess of Grain do we feed the hungry warriors

By the Brilliance of the Moon Goddess do we illuminate the shrouding dark

By the Children on the Queen of Monsters do we fight the devouring hordes

By the Love of the Wanting Mother do we balance the weave of magic

The balancing power of the four watch over the elven nation and protect its people from harm

The Dawnlands in return promise to ever hold the hordes of Jector in the Dark.

May the Eye of Ishtari make real the will of the prism crowned

When the jeweled Light’s shine is needed most.”

With each passage and touching of the gem the light PULSED around the room, and the rainbow light grew washed out and weaker. Until finally it was only a faint ghost of its former self, a mere flicker in the heart of the crystal. And then Lannis’ voice rang out for the last verse and the light flowed up one last time and then ended with a crackling sound and a diminishing spray of sparks, reducing the illumination in the room to JUST Kovid’s lantern. There was a back splash of power and the four around the pedestal were rocked back from its coursing.

But it was done.

“Hot fucking damn!” Lannis swore. “We did it!”

“Good job, Big Brain!” Kovid smiled and then his gaze dropped to his hammer and frowned. “Ah…fuck.” He looked at the Scythe, Flail, and Rod in turn and repeated himself. “Fucker fuck. I hope we have time to fix it.”

All 4 of the goddess weapons were covered with a greyish black tarnish from the expiring power of the crystal, similar to the way Corfard’s Statue appeared. “Ok, I can clean it,” Kovid assured the group, “It’s just going to take time.”

“How long?” Brednon asked worried.

“At least an hour per weapon.”

Lannis looked at the Rod and shook it. “Until we get the tarnish off, the magic of the weapons is currently dormant.” He sighed. “It’s still a hammer, flail, scythe, and bashing stick – it’s just not capable of doing its magic at this time.”

“Well, what are we going to do?” Lyra asked. “We doing the horn and Guardians? We have some time to come up with a plan, don’t we?”

From somewhere else in the Castle, we could hear the mournful blast of a trumpet ringing out. And then from elsewhere, another horn called out. And from somewhere else we could hear the pounding of drums. And deep in the stones of the Ispan’s Castle, we could feel the rocks themselves shaking as something massive stomped its feet and shook the walls with its cries.

To Lyra’s vision, the points of evil were swirling and swarming about, and others were coming up from the south and making their way through the halls east of this chamber, making their way north.

Already heading for the Secret Door, Wyn was waving his hands rapidly. “I tink Priestesse dat we ‘ave even less time den we tink.”

“Shit,” Lyra cursed. “2 minutes tops people.”

“Vamanos!” Abraxas called out, pushing the group ahead of him.

“Wait, we running, staying, hiding?” Brendon asked, letting his bow drop to his hand. “What the hell is the plan exactly?”

Time is Day 7, 9:45 AM

(OOC)

XP: Deactivate Ispan’s Crystal – 400 xp Each

And it’s down. But the alarm has been raised. And lots of shit is coming this way. What is the plan? And please, be specific. Good luck!

PBEM - Episode 250. Crystals

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY

(I/C)

Opening his bag and looking around, Abraxas said, "Amigos, que if it is not the Goddess weapons for este docadexaheadroom, but something of Corky's? Something con su majik? Similar to Corglefat. So que do yo tengo.”

Lyra was looking around. “Let’s see... things Abraxas has done that the rest of us hasn’t. Well he’s fucked a big bear.”

“Bugbear, Priestesse,” Wyn corrected.

“Whatever,” she waved her hands absently. “Not sure the goddesses made that a requirement. Not sure how many other willing bug bears are around either.”

“Bugbear,” Kovid corrected her. “It’s one word.”

“Whatever,” she repeated herself with a frown. Seeing Wyn in the Ispan’s chair, she waved for him to get up. “He also sat in the throne.” As soon as the elf rode, she plopped her ass in the chair and wiggled it twice for good effect.

Still rummaging, Abraxas offered, "Señora, I'm pretty sure it has to do with majik malo, not a sexo thing. And the Throne isn’t of Corflatch's majik either. Ahora, the Elves' docasexaheadroom, que may necessito un sexo thing. I mean these elves were really into sexo. Like REALLY into it."

Climbing up on the dais, Brendon shook his head, “The sex elves put tons of crazy into this chair and you guys couldn’t help but add more to it.”

She sighed and stood up, walking down the dais slowly. “We might need to start looking for bugbears to fuck.” 

The party broke down into a series of disjointed conversations as ideas were tossed out and discarded just as fast. Eventually they boiled it down to something Abraxas was carrying in his pack and what might have been specific to the Dragon since it was his Crystal. And that was the Statue and the 7 dragon scales. As the talk was winding down and Lannis was looking to redo the ritual again but with the items in question and not the goddess weapons, Wyn cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Hokay...so takin all de discordant discussions into account here. Based on what I see dere when Salazar touch de dragon gem, we need to test if de gem reacting to de silver statue, de dragon scales, or de magic codpiece. So we gots ta spread it all out an do it again.” He pointed to the Fighter. "Salazar, cen you give de statue to de dwarf, den de scales to de Priestess?”

Abraxas was muttering, “Ah, este statue. Señor Jovid, por favor?" as he handed the statue to Kovid, then went back to rooting around his pack. "Ah, Señora LynkdIn, a Scale Rojo de El Dragón." Giving her one of the dragon scales to hold.

"After dat den de dwarf approaches de gem for a second. If something happens—we be watching to see if sometin happen—den de dwarf stays there for a few second to see if de gem hugs him more. Dis may have to do with the ‘thing you be holding’ and the ‘time you be standing there.’ If nothin happens, we go to Priestess and she do de same ting. An’ lastly, Salazar does de same ting. I do t tink it be de codpiece, 'cause dat kob was a putain de merde... but we need to try.”

Lannis was growing cross, face flushing and brows lowering as the elf continued talking.

"We may need two of de silver statues from de guardians to make dis work.” Wyn shrugged. “Or not.” He smirked, “Wyn en Lannis look at de ritual while you be doing it to observe de happenings of de gem. I tink I may be a bit better at it since I see it happen before. Offop just like to watch... magic tings.”

The Magic User had then turned to Abraxas with his hand out and pointing imperiously at his open palm. “Now. Now. Scale now.”

"How dat all sound?” Wyn summed up, “I tink we should be able to stop something bad from happening as long as we are watching it all go down. Hopefully de gem doesn't explode. Or implode. Or just regular plode."

Hearing Lannis whining and sees him holding out his hands doing a 'gimme...GIMME!' motion, Abraxas shrugged and said, "Ah, Señor Lanchess... este es awkward. The only other thing yo tengo que may have Corflaghorn's majik is este..." he made a DX Chop at the Skull in front of his crotch, grinning as he did so.

Lannis only scowled harder. "Ah... Yo Soy! Aqui es un otro Scale Rojo de El Dragón!" Abraxas then handed Lannis one of the dragon scales. "Ahora we do the ritual thing again, si? Señor Lessons, por favor?"

“Sure,” Lannis said with false sincerity. “Now that I matter and count again.” He turned to Wyn and sneered. "I’m sorry my liege,” he said genuflecting deeply. “I didn't realize that sitting in that throne had made you king of all you survey or I would have brought gifts of silvers and fine cotton.”

“Sigh, really Monsieur?” Wyn shook his head.

“Do not worry King Shrimp Boil, First of his Name, as your court mage I will continue to oversee this ritual, as I have been from the start.” He snapped his fingers. “Your points make sense, but all that needs to be done is test the scales and try handing off the statue, which I had planned on doing anyway. Your stern but wise gaze is most appreciated, but I believe I can handle this without your powerful but magnanimous hand to direct us each step of the way." He bowed one last time, almost letting his nose drag on the floor before snapping up and turning away with a swirl of his robes, returning to the pedestal and pointing to each person. “You, you, and you. Same places as before.”

“Yes sire, Mister Big Britches, Sire,” Kovid grinned.

“Let’s do this quickly. From the top, watch your selves, no messing up, and TOUCH the crystal with whatever dragony thing you have. Ok?” Getting a series of nods, he gave Wyn the side eye and then snapped the paper smooth with a flick of the wrist. “From the top.”

He read off the Ispan Crystal ritual again, voice deep and addressing the oscillating prismatic gemstone, and when it was Abraxas’ turn, he leaned in, dragon scale in one hand, Scythe in the other, and pressing his crotch forward with Grilljax’ protective skull still resting there. BUT, the prismatic light flickered heavily toward the scale, ignoring the other two items, so Abraxas leaned in a bit more and touched the crystal with the scale – and the light PULSED hard around the room.

“Whoa,” Brendon and Wyn muttered from the dais, both of them eyeing the secret door and feeling reassured it was still open. Casually the Scout climbed down one step and leaned to the side.

Kovid was next, reading his line but he instead leaned forward with the silver dragon statue…and sure enough, the prismatic light was flowing towards it as if it was hungry. He touched it to the gem and again…the light PULSED hard around the room once more. The oscillations were continuing but they seemed to be less in their intensity and brilliance.

Lyra followed with her scale and the same results occurred, another PULSE of light filling the chamber and another reduction of the Crystal’s radiant light. Smiling now very broadly, Lannis stepped up and repeated his line, touching the Crystal with the scale he was holding, and the light pulsed one last time, filling the chamber and there was an odd crackling sound in the air as if it felt supercharged somehow.

Enunciating each word with care Lannis came to the conclusion of the ritual. “The balancing power of the four watch over the elven nation and protect its people from harm. The Dawnlands in return promise to ever hold the hordes of Jector in the Dark. May the Eye of Ishtari make real the will of the prism crowned when the jeweled Light’s shine is needed most.”

The Crystal on the pedestal gave one last coursing up of rainbow light and then shuddered in place before the three dragon scales all burst away to dust as they dried out and were consumed, and the silver statue shook a bit and became heavy with a layer of tarnish but remained whole and undamaged under the grey and black coating.

The feeling of competing energies in the room faded and the Ispan’s stone, still on the pedestal, continued its running up and down the spectrum of rainbow lights but with a more sedate and less frantic look or feel to them. Lyra, who still had the Detect Evil going (40 minutes left) smiled broadly as she looked at Corfard’s gem. “It’s done. No more evil.”

Lannis wiped the sweat from his brow and settled back a step. “Damn,” he muttered.

Throughout it all, the undead snake’s attention did not waver as it watched the Throne Room door. Kovid was rubbing the statue and frowning. “I can clean this up again, Abraxas. Don’t worry. Just going to need an hour or so tonight. I have some metal paste, should make it right as rain.” He handed the statue back to Abraxas who gave it a critical eye and then replaced it in his pack.

“Gracias.” He blew out a deep breath. “Well, we did that.” He looked at the Ispan’s gem. “We doing that one as well?”

Time now is Day 7, 9:35 AM

(OOC)

XP: Deactivate Corfard’s Crystal – 300 xp Each

Good job! What now? Horn? Other Crystal? Turn? Secret Door? Other Guardians? The statue is dirty and ineffective until cleaned – will take 1 hour to do so. Magic is still there, but it is covered over with expired dispelling residue.