Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
2/10/998rw
Marta will
glance over the walls and ceilings to see if there are any other
"Can someone search these walls for an opening?"
Suggests Yahn.
"If
Marta will
try to search for any openings, she thinks it is a good idea
"Actually i think if we are going to move anything
we should go back and
"Well, none of the chests radiate magic of any
kind, shall we open them
You find the above stated items.
A thoughtful look appears on Talanos'
fine boned face. His right hand reaches up and
Glant also
takes a seat and does what he can for his own wounds, which
Marta thinks
it is a good place to rest up for the day, she plans on
Looking at the collection of chests and coins, Horst
comments "Perhaps
The creatures vanquished, Lester
looks around hopefully, wondering what sort
"Well, for now I suggest we rest, and decide
what to do with this
Siobhan
leans against one wall and idly stirs the coins laying about one
of the spilled chests, "I will stand guard for awhile so
get your rest." After several hours pass she awakens Talanos
who repeats the change waking Cronar until finally the entire
party gets rested.
"I say after we rest we should move the treasure.
If we need to fight
Horst rises
up from where he has been resting and praying, "Indeed it
"Well, if we are going to move these, then we
better get started before
Grateful that he isn't likely to be asked to carry
the loot, and that there
Cronar gives
a grunt at Lester and mumbles something about using his fists.
As he carries a smallish chest back to the smaller
room, a smile appears on Talanos'
Siobhan laughs
at Cronar's remark, "Strong
men such as yourselves should have no problem with these light
loads." She follows the group occasionally looking over her
shoulder at the gathering darkness as the group's light from Horst's
glowing stone.
Yahn walks
over and heaves one of the 200 pound chests into the air and
The party tromps through the corridors
and the large circular room and as you pass the square room Horst
notices a peculiar glowing set of eyes picked up by the glowing
stone.
Cronar and Yahn both stumble into the
now immobile chest as it deftly hangs steadily in the air from
the now solid form of Horst who is as solid as stone. The light
from his stone still shines and down the passage you hear a low
growl. http://www.irony.com/mailroll.html
Seeing that something is going on, Glant
sets down the chest he is
"By Tyr's Sharp Sword" exclaims Cronar.
What has caused this, the witch,
Following the big warriors' advice, Talanos
sets down the small chest he is carrying
Horrified by what has happened to Horst, Lester
runs through all the legends
Marta hears
the commotion and looks down at the ground in front of her
Hearing the wise words spoken, Glant
too tries to keep his eyes focused
Siobhan
moves quickly to ready her longsword and shortsword and the
You notice Yahn also turns to stone.
Marta and Lester start chanting incantations. In the next instant
a billowing mass of fog obscures the hallway and the party is
thrown into total darkness.
A growling noise slithers closer and
you here the clawed scrapings upon the rock floor.
As your (Lester)spell begins you are engulfed
in a cloud of fog. As you can't see your spell go off it will
be wasted. Do you want to hold the spell. You can make a half
move and hold it. But no combat or you lose it.
Realizing silence is essential now, Glant
focuses his concentration on
Marta decides
it is a good idea to duck left and draws out her dagger. she
realizing silence is essential now, Glant
focuses his concentration on
Marta will
attack the creature if the scrapings get close while creeping
Enveloped in darkness, Talanos
edged his way over to the closest wall.
Figuring he's probably short on time, I think Lester'll
just press himself up against the wall and hope the thing goes
past him. He'll wait for Talanos' signal and attempt a backstab.
Moving swiftly to a position at right-angles to Talanos,
Siobhan
backs against the nearest wall and attempts to reduce her breathing
to the bare minimum while Talanos attracts the attention of the
Basilisk. She will wait there until the Basilisk moves to attack
Talanos and then
The creature snorts and studies the
curious fog which partially obscures his view. Suddenly, from
out of the thick envelope a shape emerges approaching with appendages
of sharpened steal. Letting out a roar the beastly lizard lunges
at the figure striking out with a vicious bite and clawed attack.
First attack misses second hits. Talanos receives this unfortunate
blow. Cronar who has been quietly waiting for this attack pivots
towards the noise and swings but misses badly. Talanos responds
with a flurry of quick thrusts and draws blood on the beast. Marta
is holding for a spell but in this fog has no target and no idea
where friend of foe may be. Lester has been creeping forward to
get around the combatants to deliver a backstab. As he narrowly
is missed by the huge sword of Cronar as it swishes near his head
however he manages to slip by the head of the beast in position
to deliver a mighty blow. Just as he prepares to deliver his strike
a sound from behind him sends a cold shiver up his back as the
nasty breath of another beast blows hotly on his legs. Dodging
deftly to the side of the passage, Lester finds a momentary haven
from this insane combat. Glant bumps into Lester
and the two exchange a quick word speaking in soft whispers. Meanwhile,
Talanos who is at the business end of the first beast can see
just barely his opponent. Looking at it's feet he sees several
pair while plunges his short blade once more into it's scaly hide.
Glancing blows bounce off the beasts tough hide and little damage
is recorded as it growl and snaps it's jaws on the Ranger's poor
arm chewing through armor and flesh leaving a bloody mess in it's
wake. Cronar's swing on the creatures flank just misses
the mark. Siobhan advanced behind Cronar realizing she
dared not get close to his large blade and continued past him
finding herself nose to nose with another of the beasts she lands
two vicious strikes while the critter misses with jaws slapping
together fitfully. Talanos has taken 15 pts of damage.
Turning to Lester, Glant
will whisper to him "let us try to work
Lester whispers
back in the affirmative, letting Glant draw the thing's
attention and
Feeling the agony rip through the bloody remains
of his arm, Talanos
hears the sword
The beast on Talanos turns on Cronar
missing the large warrior with its' snapping jaws. In return Talanos
misses and Cronar delivers a horrific blow that staggers the monster.
Again the wounded beast lashes out at Cronar only to bite on empty
air. Talanos stabs his blade deep into the critters soft flesh
around its eye causing a yellow ichor to flow from its empty socket.
Cronar again smashes his sword across the beasts' scaly hide drawing
more blood. Enraged and partially blind the beast bites down on
the Paladins' leg (7). Talanos takes advantage of his freedom
inflicting multiple strikes on the exposed flank of the beast.
Cronar, momentarily off balance misses badly and the creature
encouraged with his success continues its' attack. Talanos drops
his sword and hastily searches for it in the fog cloud. The beast
again bites down on Cronars' bloody leg(6). Cronar responds hitting
the beast with his mailed fist bouncing uselessly against the
hard scales. Cronar finally manages to free himself delivering
yet another blow. Ignoring Talanos the beast bites down on Cronars'
gauntleted hand (2). Talanos finds his blade and sticks the beast
again and again. Shrieking in pain the beast pulls away but not
before Cronar gets his revenge with yet another strike from his
blade. Not allowing the creature to escape Cronar delivers the
coup de grace and the beast coughs up blood and slumps to the
gore slickened floor.
Meanwhile Siobhan continues her assault
on the second beast stabbing it with her off hand dagger. In reply
the beast misses her cleanly. Glant and Lester realize the second
beast is occupied and both move in position for rear attacks.
Siobhan swings but misses and so does the beast, Glant misses
but Lester finds the mark. Again attacks are exchanged with little
to show except for a painful bite on Siobhan from the beast(3).
Siobhan parries and beast lands another bite to her arm(3) while
Lester again delivers a blow. Siobhan strikes back with her dagger
while
the beast, Lester and Glant all fail
to damage. Siobhan finally lands a blow from her longsword and
both Lester and Glant fall over each other hurting no one. The
monster remains on Siobhan biting her again(2). Siobhan screeches
in pain and smashes her long sword into the beast in her anger.
Glant balances carefully on the bloody floor then loses it falling
on his face but Lester jumps on his back gaining excellent high
ground with which to deliver a horrid poke at the beast.
The beast bellows in pain trying to
back down the passage. This time all three hit the monster and
it breaths its' last breath upon this world. All told the damage
stands as thus, Cronar -15, Talanos -15 and Siobhan -8. As the
group slump to the floor in exhaustion the fog swirls and dissipates.
Marta comes into view and rushes to the aid of the wounded.
"It looks like we have lost our light source,
if no one has another coin
Cronar in
a commanding voice remarks:
"Friend Glant", Lester
chatters nervously, "if you require it, you have my full
and
All except Glant are momentarily blinded
by the brilliant flash then constant glow that springs forth from
the Magic cast. Talanos once again attempts to track the beasts
lair. With the precision of a hound dog he follows the scratches
and scrapes that lead the party back to the stairs and upwards
another couple of dozen steps until another passage leads you
into a large room with two exits. Within this room is little
of note except for several statues of various objects including
an orc, a human, two large cats and four apes. It must be noted
that you smelled the fresh air of the outside world as you entered
the staircase, obviously wafted up from the entrance you originally
gained through the waterfall. It appears to Talanos that the beasts'
lair is through the left exit from this room.
One other note: The stair continues
upwards beyond this latest passage you have broached.
Glant comments
"sounds like a good plan to me, hopefully there isn't
Cronar says:
"Although the group is wounded, I think we should go on to
Wetting his lips as he imagines chests full of rubies
and emeralds, Lester
says, "I
Talanos
carefully checks out the room before moving through it. Looking
at the
Siobhan
looks over the party members in front of her (everyone) and
"I believe there is magic that will revert them,
but alas I do not
"Could that potion possibly be a cure for our
friends? shall we return
Talanos
looks at the potion and says, "Is there a way that you can
tell what this will
"The only thing I could do is tell you whether
or not it is magical,
Marta stands to one side of the human
statue, "I don't know about you guys but I just woke up not
over an hour ago. We can rest here but it will be all day before
I'm prepared to sleep."
Siobhan
wanders around the room, poking and prodding at the nest looking
Easing herself into a more comfortable position she
looks up at the
Lester looks
up from admiring his new ring, holding it up to one eye and looking
at
The statue is about 51/2 feet tall, apparently
a priest or some such type in his none solid form.
Lester notices that the statue is holding
a scroll with decipherable script. As he peers intently at these
words he bolts away in obvious fear. Lester has read of the Ravens
and the danger that awaits atop the flight of stairs. A witch
of horrid features and a huge pot of stew containing a horrid
concoction of ingredients needing no further description.
Cronar attempts to break the
stone scroll
Lester shivers by the stone
wall of the corridor. "It speaks of the Ravens", he
says
Looking at the piece of stone, Talanos
looks at it closely and mumbles, "Never did
Glant moves to Talanos side
" I ill read it for you." Glant then
As Glant starts to read what legible text
there is Cronar unexpectedly steps forward and knocks the scroll
and the arms of the statue to the hard floor where they crumble
into tiny bits of rock.
Talanos looks at the massive
human with his mouth hanging open. "Now why'd you
"Sheesh, cautious are you? or just plain paranoid? I will
see what I can
Visibly calmer, Lester finishes
munching on his dried fruit. "Well", he says, not
Cronar suggests that a drop
of the potion be applied to one of the
"I agree, and it is worth a shot." Glant
then goes silent.
With little ado Cronar takes the vial of murky
liquid and pours a few drops onto the once proud Cleric. You
notice that a small portion of stone gets wet then rapidly dries
with no other effect noticeable. The ring is then applied with
no obvious consequence as well.
"Well, so much for that idea, anybody got any other ideas?"
exits...... is this a good place to stop for awhile guys.
there is no other way to go I think we should move this treasure
into
the room where we found the urns of silver. We should then seal
it up
so no one else will likely find our little bounty".
about moving the stuff to the urns
get the urns and return them here, for this is a lot of stuff
to haul."
meanwhile Glant
will begin mumbling the words to a spell(detect magic)
in the direction of the chests, and if any magic is revealed will
say
"stand clear for a moment everybody, please, just in case
there is a
trap here." and begin mumbling the words to another spell(knock)on
the
chest that radiates the most or any magic.
then?" If everyone concurs Glant
will begin opening chests, starting with
the closest, saving his spell(knock) for the first that refuses
to open.
finds a small piece of wood hanging from the leather thong hanging
form his neck and
he gently strokes the golden hued piece of oak. He looks at the
copper and electrum
and says, "Bringing the silver we found earlier here would
seem to be the easiest to
do, but taking these coins there makes sense as well. Certainly
that area is more
secure than this. Why not just hide it as best we can and hope
that no one comes
along and finds it." He finds a relatively clean spot and
leans against the wall, sliding
his rear down the wall until he is seated. He carefully begins
to examine the wounds
he got in the fight against the horned creatures. Looking up to
the others, he asks,
"Does anyone know what those creatures were? The reason I
ask is that I've never
seen anything like them before."
isn't much "I too have no idea what those creatures were,
but they pack
quite a punch. so has it been decided whether we are staying here
and
resting, or not, it seems like a suitable place too me, with only
1
entrance/exit."
studying her spells and maybe changing her repertoire.
it would be best to determine what is in the chests before we
decide to
leave them anywhere. It may be that the contents will be of use
to us on
our quest and be better carried with us than left to be collected
should
we return this way...."
"As for the creatures. I'm afraid I cannot help to identify
them.
Whatever they were though I hope don't meet too many in the near
future
as I'm not either I or my armour could withstand the assualt."
with that he moves over to attend both his own and other peoples
wounds.
[OOC: Cast CLW and CSW as appropriate]
Once Horst finishes administering what aid he can to the party
he slumps
down in a quiet corner to rest and pray for a while.
of food these large creatures eat. When he sees the remains of
the
creatures' repast the Gnome makes a faces and shakes his head
sadly,
muttering something about more hardtack and jerky...
Lester perks up a bit at Horst's suggestion that they search the
chests and
begins to sift through the loot, looking for something interesting
amongst
all of these coins. The Gnome picks up one of the copper coins
and
considers it a moment, a mischevious twinkle in his eye.
After sifting through the coins, Lester takes up Yahn's suggestion
and looks
around the walls for another exit for a bit, then sits down to
rest himself
and nibbles on some rations.
later." Glant
finds a comfortable position on the far side of the room
with his back to the wall, and his eyes on the only entrance.
we can always drop the chests." says Yahn.
would be best to take the coins back to the earlier chamber, it
isn't
far and will not take too long... well as long as we have no incidents
like yesterday's" he winces as his now healed wounds give
him a little
twinge and moves over to offer his assistance to Yahn and waves
a hand
at the big man, "Come Cronar, your strength would be most
welcome here
me thinks..."
those things return." Glant
then takes a hold on one end of a chest.
won't be any unfamiliar territory for him to have to check out,
Lester
takes
up a position in the center of the party, giving 'helpful' direction
to the
big strong fighter types about how they should carry the chests....
"No, no, don't lift with your backs. Use your legs!".....
face at Lesters' remark. When Cronar makes
his reply, Talanos lets out a harsh bark
of a laugh. "I'd listen up if I were you Lester. His fists
look to be about the size of
you!" Looking back over his shoulder toward the rear of the
party, he makes sure that
everyone is keeping up and is not having any difficulty.
allows it to rest on his shoulder holding it in place with one
arm. He
smiles down at Lester and says, "I think I'll carry this
one." as he
turns and walks down the hall. Yahn gives a little chuckle at
any one
who is impressed with his immense strength.
carrying and pulls his swords free and prepares for the enemy,
with his
longsword in his right hand and shortsword in his left.
another spellcaster?, a creature of legend like a basilisk or
a medusa, or
some curse laid on the chest. Fearing such possibilities, he steps
away
from the petrified cleric and lowers his eyes to the ground, drawing
his
sword and utilizing his blind fighting he tries to advance and
slay the
creature, locating its/his/her feet if possible and
"Avoid the chest, lest it has some curse the cleric may have
triggered. If
you have a mirror or a highly polished shield, place in front
of your face
and advance!" he instructs not his comrade.
and draws his two short swords. Eyes focused at the ground about
ten feet in front of
him, he follows Cronar forward, trying to locate the cause of
Horsts' petrification.
he's heard of such things and comes to his own conclusions. With
another
glimpse, as quick as he can make it, at Horst's petrified form,
from which
he just as quickly turns away, Lester gets a good idea of the
direction in
which the unfortunate cleric was looking and then begins murmuring
quietly
to himself, "Anghywir meddylrith", repeating the phrase
three times. He
then concentrates a moment and a large, ornate mirror (or actually
the
illusion of one...) appears, the glass facing away from our newest
piece of
statuary in the direction Horst had been looking.
ooc: cast Phantasmal Force.
slightly left, she casts wall of fog centered on our now stoned
cleric.
somewhat low to avoid looking in the enemies eyes, and moves cautiously
forward. If anything is spotted he will move his eyes up so he
has a
view of anything below the head that might be used to attack,
so he can
properly defend himself, and let loose into 'whatever it is' midsection
with both swords.
positions herself behind the lead warriors..."After you boys...."
she
says with a quick glance and the solid shape of Horst.
the scrapings that are being heard and tries to circle around
the
creature and attack.
closes her eyes and listens carefully for any sound of the enemy.
the scrapings that are being heard and tries to circle around
the
creature and attack. Glant will try to attack the creature from
the back or the side so as to
create a distraction for the others to get their hits in, and
if things
start to go badly for him will do a slow fighting withdrawal.
left. If things go bad she will sheath the dagger and cast web
at the
direction of attack. If the fog starts to dissipate she will cast
web if
not cast already.
Raising his swords, holding them at about waist height, he says
to the others, "Hold
off on your attacks. Let me draw this thing toward me in the darkness
and then,
when I say it's attacking me, then go after it." Talanos
then starts to try and get the attention of the attacking beast
by reciting his favorite elvish delicacies, but doing it in the
orcish language. "Bilberry wine. Venison stuffed mushrooms.
Twinberry pie." As he goes through the list, he pauses between
each item and listens for a moment for the sound of the creature.
But, also
as he lists these items, his voice becomes more and more edgy,
and at some points,
seems to crack.
she will strike, moving to attack the beasts flank so that she
is not in danger of meeting its gaze.
She will strike as boldly as she dares, however should the Basilisk
prove a more dangerous foe than she hopes & prays she will
retreat until its attention is once more occupied by the likes
of Talanos before once more launching a vicious attack.....
together on one of these beasts, and see if we cannot take it
out"
Glant will then continue his attacks, hopefully coordinated with
Lester
on the other side, on the closest beast that he is aware of.
positioning himself to deliver a backstab. After this, the Gnome
will continue to
fight with his short sword unless badly hurt. If Glant and he
manage to slay the
thing, Lester will fade back into the fog and attempt to backstab
the next one...
hit the ground after it drops from his badly damaged hand. Making
a low, feral growl,
he stabs at the creatures side, twisting the sword once he feels
it pierce its scaly
flesh.
or what not, I will cast a spell to provide us another."
If anyone agrees, Glant
will remove a coin from his pouch and begin
mumbling a spell(light), and cast it on the coin
"Do not wait for consensus on this Glant, create the light
now, dangers
surround us in this place and we cannot afford to be stumbling
around in
the dark!"
enthusiastic approval for the casting of your spell".
anything else hiding in here" Glant will keep both swords
drawn just in
case.
investigate the beasts lair through the left exit from this room.
If it
is a defendable spot we might try to rest up and recover there,
if is not
very defensible we could grab any valuables we might find there
and
continue on."
agree. Let's just half of us look at the ceiling and the other
half at the floor.
Any more statuary and this place is really going to begin to look
tacky...."
statues, he gives a shiver, knowing that whatever affected Yahn
and Horst also
affected these creatures. "It'd appear that whatever enchantment
turned these to
stone lasts for a while. Possibly forever. So, with that in mind,
we shouldn't hope
that time will have an affect on their condition."
Turning to the spellcasters he asks, "Do any of you have
any spells which might turn
them back to flesh? Or do you know of a way that might help them?"
Once the party is ready, Talanos will continue tracking the basilisks
back to their lair.
As he walks, he has both swords drawn and is keeping his eyes
on the ground. As
they move, he cautions the others to do the same.
calls out "Perhaps there will be something in the Basilisks
Lair that
will be able to help our fallen comrades. Lets have a look in
their and
then re-assess our situation before continuing, otherwise we may
be in
danger of randomly wandering around in the vague hope of finding
something useful..."
possess it, but Siobhan is right, we should wait until we have
examined
the lair before we make decisions on our situation." Glant
then goes
silent and proceeds walking towards the lair with eyes downcast
as
suggested.
to them and give it a try?" Glant
awaits the others ideas.
do? It would be a shame to waste it on a statue if it won't help
them at all. And what
about that ring?" Looking around the room he says, "You
know, this might be a good
place to rest up for a while. If we break up the watches right,
the spellcasters could
even get enough rest. What do you all think?"
which would not help any, sorry." Glant
frowns to himself
to see if there is anything that might have been missed, before
seating
herself with her back to the wall a short distance from the entrance.
party..."If there is little that can be done for our comrades
at this
juncture and most people are not seriously injured then we should
press
on...after all the gods are relying on us."
Talanos through it, and says, "I have a spell that might
help, though I'll only be
able to cast it on one of the items and it'll take a lot out of
me... Which do you
think it should be? Personally I vote for the ring, but if anyone
has an intuition
about which'll help our friends more, speak up".
shakily, "and a terrible danger waiting at the top of the
stairs. A witch of horrid
visage, stirring a cauldron containing a
The Gnome reaches into a pouch for some of his dried, sugared
fruit. For a moment it
seems as if he may not be able to eat it, thinking about that
stew, but his appetite
overcomes his fear and disgust and he begins to munch contentedly.
It seems to calm
him down.
learn how to read." Turning to the others, he asks, "Would
one of you mind reading
this out loud for those of us that can't read it?"
proceeds to read the note out loud to those who cannot read it.
do THAT? It would have been nice to have someone take a look at
that. It may have
given some clue as to what we can expect from the witch or something."
Shaking
his head, he bends over, looking for any piece of the stone tablet
that might have
something legible left on it. If he finds such a piece, he hands
it over to Lester or one of the other 'readers' in the group to
decipher it.
remember, but i didn't have time to see very much" Glant
eyes Cronar.
entirely without relief, between licking the sugar off his fingers,
"that's one scroll
that'll never threaten us again..."
petrified characters to see if there is any reaction. If there
is, more to
be applied until the stone is once again flesh. Hopefully of the
potion
is a cure their are sufficient doses. if the drop fails to make
a reaction,
Cronar suggests that the ring be slipped over one of the stone
fingers of a
victim to see if relief is available that way.
"Helping our friends escape this fate should be our first
priority" he states.
Glant waits to see if there
is a response.
This page © Copyright 1997, Scott Alexander