<11: Meridius> Okay, I'm going to do something completely unheard of during a D&D game and order out for a pizza.
* 11: DM looks shocked and astonished.
<11: Karnak> So when we wrapped up last session, we'd agreed to take on the goblins, rescue the dragon, and find out what the tree-man was up to in the Underneath?
<11: Silana> Pepperoni, no peppers, please.
<11: Meridius> Yep.
* 11: Silana was just eating reheated pizza, I realize with a laugh.
<11: DM> Correct.
<11: Karnak> Meridius is down 1 hp, Liatus is out a Light spell, and otherwise we're in good shape?
<11: Meridius> I'm ordering pizza from Pizza Plus, which means I'm ordering a Barbarian, hold the onions.
<11: Meridius> Yes, they have a pizza style called The Barbarian.
<11: DM> _I_ am having egg rolls, so nany nany boo boo.
<DM> Anyway, to recap...
<11: Meridius> My food will be more D&D-fitting two ways!
<11: Karnak> And as an aside, I'm not having any problem re: spotlight time so far. If Chris wants to keep having Meridius kick in the door and be the first in, more power too him. :)
<DM> Our heroes are now quite deep in the upper reaches of the Sunless Citadel, and are currently speaking with Yusdrayl - "Great Queen Yusdrayl", her followers would all say - who leads the band of kobolds living here.
<11: Meridius> I'm the man!
<Karnak> ... "Why don't we take Meepo, too? He can point out the dragon to us."
<DM> They first encountered Meepo, hapless Guardian of Dragons without any dragons to guard, and persuaded him that they had a mutual interest in smacking goblins. He led them through twists and turns to the ancient temple room that Yusdrayl uses as a throne room.
<11: Karnak> Yeah, the gods tend to balance that out by having it bite you in the ass at some point. :)
*** BAD&D is now known as Liatus.
<DM> Yusdrayl explained how the kobolds came to reclaim this site dedicated to the worship of dragons as being rightfully theirs because of being draconic and all.
<DM> And she alluded to some humanoid individual living down deeper in the citadel who makes little things with thorns, as spoken of in rumor back in town.
<11: Silana> Little NASTY things with thorns.
<DM> Little nasty things, yes. :)
<DM> Meridius mostly spoke for the group while Liatus thought much to himself about JUST HOW MUCH the Imperial Presence is needed here. :)
<11: Silana> As opposed to, say, decorative wall hangings. With thorns. :)
<DM> And that's about where we were, I think.
<Karnak> With Karnak having volunteered Meepo to be our guide, yes. :)
<11: Meridius> Now witness the firepower of this FULLY ARMED AND OPERATIONAL LIATUS!
* Liatus grumps. There was diplomacy and I missed it.
* 11: DM laughs.
<DM> There'll be more opportunities, I suspect, BA.
<Meridius> I didn't make you look bad, though. :)
<Bruce> Diplomacy... OF THE SWORD! [Liatus]
<DM> At the moment, however, there are goblin warrens to investigate on the way to whatever else the PCs may be doing, and there's a decision to make.
<11: Gnaea> . o O ( This could have gone much more smoothly if they'd let ME do the negotiating... ) [Silana]
<Liatus> huzzah
<DM> The kobolds know of two entrances to the part of the citadel the goblins control - a western one, near the throne room (indeed, the connecting hallway opens onto the other end of this room), and an eastern one, back past where the beloved dragon Calcryx used to live.
<11: Silana> "Why, no, my familiar /wasn't/ a Hymerian in another life -- Why do you ask?"
* 11: Liatus pauses briefly to change the music. Billy Idle doesn't quite cut it for dungeon crawling.
<Karnak> "I think we should go through the dragon room entrance."
<DM> More adventurous? :)
<Karnak> "They won't expect anyone from that direction."
<11: Liatus> The dragon has been kidnapped?
<11: Karnak> Yes.
<Meridius> What time is it in game continuity?
<11: Karnak> By the Goblins.
<11: Karnak> We, with Meepo's help, will rescue the dragon.
<11: DM> Yes, a week or so ago the goblins came in force, killed a bunch of kobold guards, and seized the kobolds' dragons. A dragon that could live comfortably in a 15' square cage.
<11: Karnak> (we'll ignore for the moment that kobolds eat their dead)
<DM> Late afternoon.
* Karnak hefts his pack, and makes to head back down the long throne room with the lamp pole.
<Meridius> "Lets find a site to secure our extra gear and then proceed through the eastern door."
* 11: Liatus is has been having an enourmous amount of trouble lately reading large blocks of text on the computer screen (even more than usual), so it's really hard for me to keep up in some cases when I miss things. :/
<11: DM> BA, ask as many questions as you need to.
<Karnak> "We could leave it with the kobolds?"
<Meridius> "I don't think so."
<Karnak> "How about back at the entrance?"
<Silana> "How much do we need to leave behind, really?" Says the petite sorceress with the smallish pack. That she still seems a little burdened by.
* Liatus looks at Karnak as if he'd grown a second head. "Leave my- *our* food in the hands of Kobolds? Are you mad, man?"
* Karnak rattles his spare pack, loaded with extra food, oil for the lantern, rope, stakes, mess kits and other gear. And his 10lb iron pot. "I suppose this stuff."
<Meridius> "Meepo, we need a place to stow our gear and set up a camp for later. Do you know of a good place?"
<Meepo> "Of course! Many rooms in holy citadel not used. Made for lots more worshippers than just our tribe. Meepo show you room nobody use?" [DM]
* Meridius makes to follow Meepo to the unused room.
* Liatus follows behind Meridius.
* Karnak does as well.
<DM> Meepo leads you back down most of the length of the temple, toward its east end, then south down the hallway you came through early, left turn, and back into the chamber you found him in. He points at the door at the southern end of the west wall. "There. Nobody use it in long time. People not want to go back there when mighty dragon Calcryx live here, not need it now."
* Silana follows along, looking like she's getting a little less ill at ease with her surroundings, though she's still clearly nervous. Gnaea rides along atop her mistress' pack, keeping watch behind.
* Karnak heads over to the south door, and presses an ear against it to listen.
<DM> Just to be clear, there are two doors in this corner - one ot the west, which Meepo indicated, and one to the south, which he did not.
* Silana points to the other door. "Where does that go?"
* Karnak is listening at the south door first, then the west.
<DM> You may make a suitable roll to hear anything through the door, in any event.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 14 (10).
<Meepo> "That room hold food for great dragon Calcryx. Many rats." [DM]
<DM> Karnak doesn't hear anything.
<Karnak> "They must be sleeping." He listens at the west door.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 23 (19).
* Silana looks mildly disgusted. "Maybe we should just leave that one closed, then."
<DM> Karnak also doesn't hear anything at this door.
<Karnak> Karnak will open the door, then and shuck off his spare pack.
<11: Liatus> Is it wrong for me to be hearing Meepo as Salah from Raiders of the Lost Arc? "Rats. Very sleepy. You go first."
* 11: DM laughs.
* 11: Silana giggles.
<DM> The room's about twenty feet square, and features a) a lot of dust over b) small mounds of debris fallen down from the ceiling over the centuries. No other entrances that you can see.
* Liatus hunts for a good hiding place for his spare gear.
<DM> You can put it beneath a few slabs of ceiling and/or floor paving, if you'd like.
* Karnak will set aside his 10lb iron pot, and fill it with a pair of torches, 2 days of food and the spare backpack.
<Karnak> He then heads back into the dragon room, and does some stretching.
<DM> I'll review the dragon room for BA's sake.
* Silana will leave behind the extra food she was given to carry, taking with her just the rations she started with. She's /not/ about to leave behind the last of the good stuff she brought from home, after all. :)
<DM> It's irregular, like the space left over after rooms someone -wanted- in particular places went in - longer north-south than east-west. You can't see the north end from the south, in torchlight. AT the south end there's a 15' square cage with metal bars pulled open from the outside, leaving behind only dragon chow and dragon poop.
<DM> In front of it is a little impromptu altar, green cloth draped over a bench or something, with little figurines resting on it. Meepo was sleeping (badly) in front of it when the party came in.
* Silana looks dubiously at a fallen slab of ceiling, not about to try to lift it herself. "Liatus, could you put this under something for me, to keep it safe?"
<DM> In the middle of the room is a still-smoldering fire pit, where (Meepo explained) the kobolds burned hte bodies of their guards that were too damaged to eat in a holy feast.
* Liatus leaves behind all but weapons and armor, a skin of good wine and some of the better choices of food he swiped. Enough for a day. Two if I go on half rations.
* Meridius does much the same as Liatus.
<Liatus> And my flint and steel, holy symbol and two torches.
* Karnak is still carrying his backpack, 3 torches, a flash of oil for the lantern, the lantern on a pole, 2 days rations, 50' of rope, a spoon and knife.
<DM> Meepo points into the darkness at the other end of the room. "There other way to filthy goblin warrens. Meepo take you there or back to temple door."
<11: Meridius> Karnak's +3 Scoopmaster?
* Silana is keeping her weapons, spare clothes, bedroll, 3 days' rations, and her assorted esoterica of negligible weight.
<11: Liatus> "Look out! He's got a SPOON!!"
<11: Karnak> Hey, when you're mucking about with your fingers, you'll appreciate that Karnak has utensils. :)
<11: Karnak> You have any idea what the sanitation is in a dungeon?
<11: DM> They do now!
<11: Liatus> Bah! The only utensil *real men* need is a sword.
* 11: DM laughs.
* Karnak moves much quicker now, to the north end of the room.
<11: Silana> Not nearly as civilized as I'm used to. Pfeh. Even Daddy's summer villa has better plumbing than this.
<11: Karnak> Let's see you eat peas with a sword!
<11: Liatus> Easy. The sword'd got a grove down the center of the blade.
<11: Meridius> Fortunately there are no peas among our rations.
<DM> Once there's a torch at the northern end - anywhere fromt he fire pit north - Karnak can see the door Meepo's indicated. It leads east, and is locked. It's directly opposite the little room the three guards came out of back when Meepo told them not to attack the PCs.
* Liatus follows behind Karnak, unshething his sword and taking a few practice swings to limber up before going into possible danger.
<Karnak> (hooded lantern... 30' radius light)
<DM> Gotcha.
* Karnak props the lantern near the door and examines it. "Locked."
<DM> Then you can see the door from where Meepo was sleeping.
* Karnak listens up against the door.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 22 (18).
<DM> All quiet on the other side. Anyone want to make a Search roll, or use the Track feat if you've got it?
## Meridius rolled 1d20+1 = 5 (4).
## Karnak rolled 1d20+1 = 9 (8).
* Meridius looks around briefly and grunts.
<DM> Meridius successfully identifies one of his feet. Karnak identifies _both_ of his.
<11: Liatus> what do you roll for Search.
## Silana rolled 1d20+1 = 13 (12).
<11: DM> In your case, 1d20+2.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 5 (3).
* Liatus is clearly too busy swinging his sword about to notice much.
<DM> No signs of traps or other oddities, and the dust is too mucked up to provide good tracks or anything.
* Karnak will try to give the door a good, hard shove.
<11: Karnak> Man, this'll be a joke. Break DC on most doors is like 18 or so... :)
## Karnak rolled 1d20 = 9 (9).
<DM> No go.
<Meepo> "Wait! Got key!" [DM]
<Karnak> "It's pretty solid."
* Karnak looks at Meepo and smiles, "That'll help!"
* Karnak steps back to let Meepo in.
<DM> Meepo quickly unlocks the door and steps back. "Through there, filthy goblins."
* Karnak picks up the lantern pole and looks to Meridius.
<Liatus> (do we have a light?)
<DM> Karnak has a lantern on a pole.
* Meridius readies one of his pilum and steps through the door.
* Liatus readies his short sword and follows behind meridius.
* Silana peers though the door. Chamber beyond, or corridor?
<DM> The hallway clearly hasn't seen a lot of use. The paving is clear down the middle, but there's dust piled up in the corners. If Karnak is still making a pretense of mapping :), it goes about 25 feet east, then turns south.
<Karnak> Hmm.
<11: Karnak> I'm still mapping, though it's going to be goofy. :)
* Meridius proceeds down the hall slowly, assuming everyone else falls into marching order.
<Karnak> Marching order is Meridius, Karnak, Silana and Liatus?
<11: DM> I meant to suggest that nodes and lines might serve better than trying to get actual scale.
<Meridius> Yes.
<Liatus> I thought I was behind Meridius?
<11: Karnak> That's hardly as much fun!
<11: DM> Carry on. :)
<11: Meridius> Liatus brings up the rear.
<Karnak> I think we wanted you in back for rear-security.
* Silana loads her croosbow, just in case it becomes useful, but is ready to use her staff as a weapon if she needs to defend herself. Being behind two men who are larger and much taller than she is will make shooting at things problematic.
<DM> Silana needs to hope for low-flying tentacles or something. :)
<Meridius> Do we make it to the bend in the corridor without incident?
<DM> At the far end of the hallway you can see that there used to be a room, but it's entirely filled with rubble and debris. Yes, you get to the bend just fine, and see that it goes south 20' or so - around that filled-in room - and turns east again.
* Meridius keeps moving at a gentle pace.
* Liatus keeps a sharp eye for possible traps and ambushes.
* Karnak will pause for a moment to look over the rubble and debris (attempt a Search roll?)
<DM> Forty feet or so to the east - you're not more than a wall or two away from the north end of tower room.
<DM> Yes, anyone who wishes to search can take 10 at it, or roll, whenever.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+1 = 5 (4).
* Karnak moves on. Nothing to see here.
* Meridius will try a search, and hopes to find more than one of his own appendages.
## Meridius rolled 1d20+1 = 6 (5).
## Silana rolled 1d20+1 = 3 (2).
* Silana bonks into a wall. "Ow."
<DM> At this rate someone is perilously close to _not_ finding their own feet.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 8 (6).
* Karnak rubs the lantern glass with his sleeve, to try and get some light through its sooty, opaque covering.
<Liatus> damn it
* Liatus looks sternly at his dice.
<Karnak> "What kind of oil did you buy? This stuff is smoking pretty bad."
<DM> Meepo is tailing behind, near the back end of the lighted area. He asks, "Lock door again?"
<Meridius> "Leave the door unlocked. We may need to make a hasty retreat and don't need to be fiddling with locks at such a time."
<Karnak> "What if the goblins get by us, though?
<Meepo> "Meepo keep key handy." [DM]
<Meridius> "Then Yusdrayl will have her hands full."
* Meridius keeps moving.
<Silana> "Do we want to take a chance on being locked in, though?
<Meridius> "Meepo has the key."
<DM> At the far end of this second east-west segment, there's a single door opening to the north.
* Silana edges up to Meridius. Sotto voce, she murmurs to him, "And if he loses it, or the goblins get him?"
* Meridius steps aside so Karnak can listen at the door.
* Karnak does so.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 7 (3).
* Meridius shows Silana his crowbar.
<Karnak> "Nothing."
* 11: Silana SO no-comments.
<11: Liatus> No time for love, Meridius. Put that thing away.
* Meridius will put his ear to the door and see if he can hear anything.
* Liatus also listens.
## Meridius rolled 1d20-1 = 17 (18).
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 8 (6).
<Meridius> BOOYAH!
<Liatus> Oh for the love of...
<DM> Neither of you hears anything on the other side, either.
* Silana looks a little more assured, and takes her place in line again.
* Meridius feels pretty good about what he doesn't hear, though.
<Meridius> Is the door locked?
* Karnak scratches his head. "I told you there was nothing to hear."
<DM> The door is not locked.
* Meridius opens the door.
<DM> The room on the other wise is about twenty feet square - a little longer east-west. There's a door in the north wall directly opposite yours, and apart fromt hat, just dust and debris. Anyone want to try to break the search curse?
* Meridius tries.
## Meridius rolled 1d20+1 = 2 (1).
## Silana rolled 1d20+1 = 18 (17).
* Meridius tries to find his nose with his finger and pokes himself in the eye.
* 11: DM pictures Meridius hopping around going "I've lost my feet!"
<DM> Hey, Silana's spotted something in the edges of the dust.
* Silana moves carefully closer to what she's found, poking the floor ahead of her with her staff.
* Karnak moves the lantern around to illuminate the corners.
* Silana gets close to the northern door and calls out, "Hey! There are people-tracks over here. Looks like four of them!"
<DM> It looks like the corners have sat unused by anything larger than rats for a long time.
* Liatus searches
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 7 (5).
<Karnak> "I bet the goblins came through here."
* Liatus goes and sits in the corner.
<11: Karnak> Use up the bad rolls now, before combat.
* Karnak scratches his chest, "Should we be yelling, though?"
<Meridius> "Perhaps we've found the Hucrele's trail. Excellent work, Silana."
* Meridius moves toward the opposite door and gives it a listen.
## Meridius rolled 1d20-1 = 15 (16).
* Silana looks at Karnak, and covers her mouth with one hand, blushing.
* Karnak moves over, to give Meridius some light.
<11: Liatus> At this rate, if we have to fight something, i may as well fall on my sword and save them the trouble.
* 11: DM laughs.
<11: Karnak> Yeah, but don't forget you can heal yourself afterwards.:)
* Liatus comes over to look also.
<DM> Meridius doesn't hear anything on the other side.
<Meridius> "Karnak, you want to check as well?"
<DM> You can all see, once Silana points them out, that two people with human-sized feet stood on each side of the door for a while. More recent tracks have come and gone, but these were out of the way and hence preserved.
<11: Liatus> Of course, Meridius and I could always attempt to fight each other and make the goblins laugh themselves to death.
<Karnak> "Did you hear something?" He bends down to listen.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 11 (7).
* Liatus listens
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 18 (16).
<11: Liatus> Ha!
<11: Meridius> :)
<DM> Liatus and Karnak don't hear anything, either. But more clearly!
<Karnak> "I think its clear."
<Meridius> Assuming the door is unlocked, I'll attempt to open it.
<DM> Liatus is definitely not listening to his elbow. And yes, it's unlocked.
* Meridius opens the door.
* Karnak whispers to Silana, "I bet its another corridor."
<DM> The room on the other side is the same size as the one you're leaving, but with more stuff. On the western wall is a stone door carved in another dragon relief; on the eastern wall is a dry fountain, sculpted like a dragon diving out of the wall. A hallway runs off to the north through an arch without a door in it.
* 11: Meridius opens the door to expose the reactor core of the Death Star to Karnak.
<Karnak> "Ooooh."
* Meridius says to Meepo, "What do you make of this?"
* Karnak moves over to examine the fountain.
* 11: Silana has sudden bad flashbacks of another campaign.
<DM> Meepo peers at the fountain, then goes over to the door. "Door cold."
<Meridius> "Cold?"
* Karnak tries to figure out where the water would have come from. "Neat."
* 11: Silana imagines she'd be the designated One Who Can't Help Fiddling With It, in place of the fool in that long-ago game. Until my much-wiser familiar pecked me unconscious, saving us all. ;)
<Meepo> "Things written here, hard for me to read." He points at inscriptions over the door and on the rim of the fountain. [DM]
* Karnak climbs into the dry fountain to get a better look, if required.
<DM> The fountain has been dry a long time. It's covered with dust and a bit of grit left over from the last liquid in it drying out. And you may search it.
<11: Meridius> How many XP do I get if Karnak falls into a portable hole?
## Karnak rolled 1d20+1 = 18 (17).
* 11: *WHOOSH* "Monk go down the hole..." [Silana]
* 11: Liatus ponders the irony of, at the end of the story, Karnak finding a chest that contains a well worn, hand written and bound tome that says "Tales of the Aeon Society" on the cover.
<DM> Brushing away some of the grit, you can see a single word in Draconic. It's the imperative, "Let there be fire."
<11: Meridius> Or a book with crane with a broken wing on the cover...
<Karnak> "Hey guys, this says something about fire."
* 11: Liatus waits for the joke to kick in.
<DM> The door, for those checking it out, does indeed feel cold once you get within a foot or so of it. The carvings show rather ghastly skeletal dragons flying over a ruined landscape.
<11: DM> I got it. :)
<Liatus> "Um, perhaps you should get out of the fountain."
<11: Meridius> I didn't get it. :/
<11: DM> "Those damn dirty pulp heroes!"
<11: Karnak> Can I make a Knowledge (arcana) roll to see if I can figure out if its a trigger word?
<11: DM> Sure!
<11: Karnak> Damn, need to be trained. I'm not. :(
<11: Karnak> "I'm looking for something called 'adventure'. Is this 'adventure'?" [Liatus]
<11: Meridius> :)
<Karnak> Does the fountain 'nozzle' line up with the door?
<DM> Liatus, make a Knowledge (Arcana) roll. That's 1d20+4 for you. And if anyone wants tos earch the cold door, they're welcome to.
<DM> No, the dragon's mouth points nearly straight down into the fountain's basin.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+4 = 17 (13).
* Meridius stays away from the cold door.
* Silana stands there, peering at the fountain, then the door, then the fountain...
* Karnak climbs out of the fountain. "I wonder what would happen is I said the word out loud?"
<Liatus> "Karnak, get out of the fountain now."
## DM rolled 1d20 = 5 (5).
<Silana> "That says something about fire, and the door is cold..." The sorceress ponders. Then she looks sharply and a little fearfully at Karnak. "Don't!"
<DM> Meepo rather uncautiously reaches out to touch the door, tracing the outlines of the skeletons.
* Liatus grabs Karnak and puts his hand over his mouth.
* Meridius grabs Meepo.
* Karnak mumbles something.
<Meepo> "Meepo do no harm. Admire work of ancestors." [DM]
<Meridius> "Don't touch anything."
* Meridius says to the others, "What the hell's going on?"
* Karnak mumbles some more.
<DM> The ancient rivalry between curiosity and awareness of fuckups, I believe, Meridius. :)
<Liatus> "It's a trigger word. Many of the wonders crafted by the Collegium Praecepti in the Imperial City have reminders of the trigger word or phrase engraved on them."
<Meridius> "Ah." ...to Karnak, "I would recommend /not/ speaking the trigger word."
* Karnak mumbles some more, perhaps more forcefully.
<DM> There's an inscription above the cold door, too. Those of you who read Draconic may recognize the phrase "Channel Good, Open The Way".
<Liatus> "I don't think it is water that flows from this fountain.
* Silana nods in agreement with Liatus. "If you spoke that out loud, something might happen. Like that 'dragon' might breathe fire, all over you."
<Meridius> "You can let him go now, Liatus."
* Liatus lets Karnak go.
<Karnak> "Thank you."
<Liatus> can I make another arcane role for the door?
<11: Meridius> Silana can also make Arcana rolls, I think.
<DM> ABsolutely. Anyone who wants to search it can, too.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+4 = 18 (14).
<11: Silana> I can make Arcana rolls, if I go and look. I haven't.
* Meridius isn't searching, but rather keeping an eye out for goblin-esque threats.
* Karnak wanders over to examine the archway to the north.
<11: Meridius> Aye.
<DM> Liatus is sure that Channel Good, Open The Way is a clue, but isn't sure how it fits together with skeletal dragons.
<DM> The hallway to the north has a junction ten or twenty feet up, with branches off east and west, and extends north into darkness.
* Silana walks over toward the chilly door, and peers at it. Pity she doesn't read Draconic. She's sure something magical is going on there, though...
## Silana rolled 1d20+3 = 13 (10).
<DM> Something may well be, the details elude Silana. :)
<11: DM> By the way, when there are puzzles like these and youw ant to just go ahead and solve 'em with player fu, in general, go ahead. I would call for a roll if I doubted character fu, but otherwise have no problem with it.
* Karnak wanders back, and now examines the door.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+1 = 12 (11).
* 11: Karnak thinks Bruce may over estimate our fu. :)
* Silana shakes her head. "It's magic, but nothing I recognize."
<DM> You can see that the dust remains disturbed down the middle of the way and otherwise mostly not messed with.
<11: DM> I may, but just in case.
<DM> But details are hard to make out.
<Karnak> "There's a passage up north than goes west from here. Maybe it leads back around this door.
<Meridius> "Aye. Lets bypass this cold door for now and proceed through the arch."
* Silana hmmms. "Well, I certainly don't think we should try to open this door without knowing why it's so cold."
<Karnak> "I bet if we spoke the command word, the fountain would fill with fire, which would warm the room enough to thaw the door, letting it swing open."
* 11: Liatus debates just calling out "let there be fire" in Draconic just for the hell of it.
<11: Karnak> Sure, you muzzle me then take the glory. :)
* Karnak starts falling in behind Meridius.
* Meridius passes through the arch and moves on.
<DM> Meepo wants to stay and admire it all some more, but will follow if that looks like where folks are going.
* Silana falls into line, trying not to imagine the room filling with fire, and the conflagration spilling outward through the archway.
* Liatus goes over to the archway and waits until everyone is out of the room.
<DM> At the junction, you can see that the east-running corridor ends in rubble 15' or so on. West it's 5-10' to a wall and another door, and north the hallway continues with facing slightly ajar doors visible near the edge of your light.
* Karnak lowers his voice, "I bet we're really near the goblins now."
* Meridius wants to recon the doors to the north, but would make too much noise.
* Karnak hands Silana the lantern pole, and starts to sneak northwards.
<DM> Anyone of a mind to Move Silently or Search or othewise carry on may do so.
<Karnak> Move Silently:
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 22 (18).
* Meridius stands ready with a pilum to support Karnak should he run into trouble.
* Liatus searches
* Silana finds herself standing there, blinking, with a lantern pole in one hand and her staff in the other. :)
<DM> Hot damn. Karnak moves sooo silently.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 7 (5).
<Liatus> damn it
<Karnak> I'll try to keep to the shadows, too. Hide:
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 7 (3).
<DM> Nice try.
* Silana peers about, from where she's standing still with the light.
<Karnak> (heh... maybe I should have kept the lantern)
<Liatus> "Karnak, what are you doing?"
## Silana rolled 1d20+1 = 10 (9).
<DM> As Karnak goes north, he can see that there are three sets of doors facing each other, and then an open space beyond them.
* Karnak will try and listen as he sneaks ahead.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 20 (16).
<DM> Karnak hears small snuffling noises through some of the doorways. Peering in carefully, he can see dire rats slumbering.
* Karnak sneaks back, and fills Meridius in. "Dire rats, sleeping."
<Meridius> "How many?"
<DM> Karnak could make out three. But then he couldn't see all of the rooms, just the parts visible through partially ajar doors.
* Silana asks quietly, "Do the doors have latches?"
<DM> The doors do have latches and bolts on the outside.
<Karnak> "We should go down the other hallway, I think."
<Meridius> "We'll seal the doors first, then move on."
<11: Karnak> What do you mean "we", pale face.
<Liatus> "A pity we don't have the lamp oil needed to engulf the rooms in fire before we seal them."
* Silana nods. "Lock the rats in so that we'll be safe from them. Let's still try not to wake them up, though."
<DM> Sealing the doors would be a matter of moving up and acting faster thant he rats can respond. Not a terribly difficult task, though as always there's exciting room for botching it all.
<Karnak> "I dunno. Those rats seemed pretty quick. I'm for going this other way."
<Meridius> "If we seal the rats in now, we can deal with them later at a time of our choosing, rather than of theirs."
* Silana looks at Meridius. "Exactly."
* 11: DM takes a bathroom break while you work this out. :)
<Liatus> I agree with Meridius. If we deal with them now, then we don't have to worry about them later when they'd be an even greater danger.
<Meepo> "Meepo think we should lock rats in so rats don't spoil wonderful old door and fountain." [DM]
<Liatus> After all, we may have to come back this way, and the rats might be awake then.
<Karnak> "There's three doors, and rats are like animals, so they're sensitive. I don't think I'll be able to close all three doors without waking them up. The doors are old, probably the hinges will squeek."
* Karnak gestures at Liatus, "We may as well just deal with them now."
<Meridius> "Any rats that do get through before we can close all the doors, we'll kill."
<Karnak> "We don't know if there's more rats, ways out of their or if these are just watchdogs for the goblins, though."
* 11: Karnak tries rping his Wis 14.
* 11: DM returns.
<Karnak> "It might just be a false sense of security."
<Silana> "It might, but even if they can still get out then, they'll have to go another way instead of all swarming us this way.
* Karnak sighs, "Alright, but be ready to help me."
* Karnak will try to sneak back up to the three doors, and try to close them all very, very quietly.
* Silana leans her staff against the wall, and hefts her crossbow, ready to shoot the first rat she sees. :)
<DM> Another Move Silently check. Now that you know the way it's not terribly hard.
* Meridius is ready with a pilum as before.
<11: Liatus> Damn. Why can't one of us know Silence or some similar spell.
<11: DM> Something to plan for later. :)
* Liatus readies his sword, being very still so that his armor doesn't make any noise.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 11 (7).
<DM> Juuust made it.
<DM> But you did, and could quickly get the first of the doors through which you saw a rat closed and bolted. The rat inside stirs a bit but doesn't wake up.
<Karnak> (wonders who's holding the lantern...)
* Karnak will try to ease the 2nd door closed.
* Silana still has the lantern, I think. Which will make reloading a little difficult.
<DM> Another roll, Jason.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 15 (11).
<DM> You're getting the hang of this. Second door closed and shut.
* Karnak will go to the final door...
<11: Karnak> We all know what'll happen now...
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 10 (6).
<DM> Just barely made that one.
<DM> (I've been applying a situational bonus after the initial sneaking, for knowing the way and where to go that doesn't make noise.)
<DM> There are no sounds from the other rooms along this hall, nor from the open space to the north.
<11: DM> So unless someone frees them later, that'll be 300 xp for Jason for defeating the rats.
* Karnak scoots back down to the party, mopping sweat from his brow.
<Meridius> "Good work."
<Liatus> "Nicely done, Karnak."
<Meridius> What are our travel options again?
<DM> All right, back at the junction, you've got the short hallway and closed door to the west.
<DM> East you get a short hallway and then rubble.
<Liatus> West it is then.
<Karnak> Go west to the door, east to the rubble, south back to the fountain/door room, or north...
* Silana whews, looking relieved that went smoothly, and offers the lantern pole back to Karnak.
* Karnak takes the pole, and gives Silana a lopsided grin.
* Karnak follows Meridius to the west door?
* Meridius heads for the west door.
<11: Liatus> First Meridius shows her his crowbar and then Karnak gives her his pole. Silana's having quite the adventure.
<DM> This one's straightforward wood, not decorated fancy like the others.
* Karnak makes the standard effort to listen.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 12 (8).
* 11: Silana batbatbats Liatus.
<DM> You don't hear anything on the other side.
<Karnak> "I think we're clear."
* Karnak steps back.
<11: Liatus> Thank you, I'll be here all week.
* Liatus also listens
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 3 (1).
* Liatus goes and sits in the corner again.
<DM> Liatus really needs to stop listening to his elbow.
<11: DM> You guys may need a hardship bonus for crappy rolls. :)
<11: Liatus> I feel like a one legged man in a butt kicking contest.
<DM> Okay, two of you have not heard anything through this next door.
<DM> Search rolls would be in order, by the way.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+1 = 17 (16).
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 10 (8).
## Silana rolled 1d20+1 = 3 (2).
## Meridius rolled 1d20+1 = 21 (20).
* Silana bonks into a wall again. "Ow."
<DM> Damn, it's the K&M show.
* Liatus finds an interesting rock.
<11: Karnak> Again, you're using up the bad rolls before combat. :)
<DM> Karnak and Meridius both notice in the dust here a repetition of the pattern from earlier: heavy traffic down the middle of hte room, and signs that human-sized people (you can make out three sets of prints for sure) spread out to listen and prepare an entrance.
* Karnak hmms, "We seem to be following in doomed footprints."
* Karnak expects Meridius to open the door.
* Meridius opens the door.
<DM> The room on the other side is not much used, apparently. It's empty of anything more interesting rubble. 20' square, or nearly so, with a door in the north wall.
* Karnak mutters, "Darn, doesn't go back to the dragon door."
<DM> No, it doesn't.
* Karnak will give the room a once over, looking for Hucrele clues.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+1 = 12 (11).
* Liatus also searches the room.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 16 (14).
## Meridius rolled 1d20+1 = 18 (17).
* Karnak asides to Meepo as he searches, in Draconic, "So why haven't we found a goblin yet?"
<Meepo> "Not know. This where goblins come from. Must be near soon." [DM]
<DM> You all search the room pretty thoroughly, and find signs of the human-sized people passing through the door to the north. Same drill, too - spread out (two on one side, one on the other, no side of #4) and converge again.
<Meridius> Listen at the next door.
## Meridius rolled 1d20-1 = 13 (14).
* Liatus listens
## Liatus rolled 1d20+2 = 8 (6).
## Karnak rolled 1d20+1 = 18 (17).
<DM> Karnak, you here a distant faint noise - not right up against the door but somewhere further on.
<Karnak> "I can barely hear something. Not up against the door, but further on."
* Silana murmurs, "If they lost someone by this point..." She shudders. With no other sign of the missing person, she can only suppose the rats got him or her.
* Karnak steps back to let Meridius go through.
* Meridius opens the door.
<DM> Meridius opens the door, and a lever near the latch, which you hadn't seen earlier, is released. A loud bell sounds. The hallway ahead is strewn with caltrops, and where a door clearly was, 20' ahead, has been removed and replaced with a three-foot-high complete with little crennelations. Someone's moving behind it.
<Karnak> "Whoops!"
<11: Karnak> Well, damn. :)
<Liatus> "Blast it all. Did no one think to look for traps?"
<Meepo> "See, Meepo say goblins near! Now want it boring again." [DM]
<11: DM> For the record, I decided to roll in searching for traps in the door with searching the room since a) it's not that big and b) there wasn't anything else _in_ the room.
* 11: Karnak no complaints. :)
<DM> It would be well to roll initiative.
<Karnak> I suspect. :)
## Karnak rolled 1d20+2 = 17 (15).
## DM rolled 1d20+1 = 3 (2).
## Silana rolled 1d20+2 = 12 (10).
<DM> I see that the dice curse is transitive.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+1 = 4 (3).
* Liatus slaps his forehead.
## Silana rolled 1d20+3 = 18 (15).
## Meridius rolled 1d20 = 20 (20).
<Karnak> You're still before the goblins.
<Silana> (That last roll was Gnaea if it matters.)
* 11: Karnak thinks Chris is showing off. :)
<11: Karnak> And typically its best to have familiars act with their owners.
<11: Karnak> But.
<DM> A high-pitched voice down at the other end of the hall shouts something you can't make out.
<11: Karnak> So the order is: Meridius, Gnaea, Karnak, Silana, Liatus, Goblins.
<Liatus> Can we at least make out the language?
<DM> The caltrops, by the way, are all over the places. You could take a little time to push them out of the way with a stick or something, but they're thick enough that you wouldn't want to rush over them.
* Meridius suspects its Goblinese.
<DM> It's not a language any of you know.
<11: Karnak> Damn, they've got lots of cover. Big AC bonuses and no criticals.
<Meridius> What's the distance to the barrier the bad guys are hiding behind?
<DM> 20 feet.
-> *DM* I have an idea. I want to attach my grappling hook to my rope and cast the hook over the wall, then pull the wall down. Is that a reasonable idea given the construction of the wall and other prevailing circumstances?
*DM* Goblin architecture doesn't look all that sound. You can certainly give it a go!
* Meridius hands his shield to Karnak. "Cover me for a moment."
* Meridius moves to the back of the group for a moment, gets his grappling hook and attaches it to his length of rope.
<Meridius> I assume other things will be happening while I do this.
<DM> Yeah, you'll get that stunt ready this turn and do it next turn.
<DM> So, Silana.
* Silana casts Mage Armor on herself, sharing it with Gnaea who's perched on her pack. Silana's now AC 16, and Gnaea (until she goes more than 5 feet from Silana) is AC 22.
* Karnak looks at the shield, at Meridius, down the hall.
<DM> Righto!
<11: Karnak> Holdon.
<11: Karnak> I don't get to act?
<DM> Silana, then Karnak.
<Karnak> Silana got a 12.
<Karnak> I got a 17.
<DM> Whoops, you're right.
<Karnak> Gnaea got the 18.
<DM> Sorry.
<Karnak> (which is why familiars typically go with their owner. :)
<DM> Let me go back to relying on the player initiative tracker. :)
<DM> Okay, Karnak.
<Karnak> Karnak drops the sheild, takes a half step, and then begins a Matrix-like tumble (cross fingers and hope the dice back me up) across the caltrop strewn floor and walls, hopefully covering the 20' between him and the goblins.
<DM> Righto.
<Karnak> (Tumble roll, DC15? covering 20' as a normal move)
<11: Karnak> If this doesn't work, it's going to hurt. :)
## Karnak rolled 1d20+6 = 23 (17).
<DM> That works very well.
<11: Silana> "I've never seen someone with a caltrop stuck /there/ before."
<11: Liatus> daaaaaaaaaaaaamn
<Karnak> What's the situation at the wall? Can I be on/over it to attack the goblins?
* 11: Karnak is Jet Li...
<DM> Jump, DC 14, to get over the wall and take a normal move, or a move-equivalent action to just climb it automatically.
<Karnak> How high is it?
<DM> About three feet, or a bit more.
* 11: Silana thinks she needed her Combat Casting feat not to blow her spell while watching Karnak do that. o.o;; :)
<11: Karnak> Okay, so I have 10' move left. I'm effectively doing a running jump, so I cover a minimum distance of 5' (2.5' vertical) + 1ft per Jump over 10.
<11: Karnak> The furthest I could manage would be 10' forward/5' up. Based on the Jump skill.
<11: Karnak> So by my count, I need to beat a DC11 to get over the wall?
<11: DM> Right.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+3 = 21 (18).
<11: Karnak> So that'll take me the full 5' over the wall...
* Karnak sproings over the wall, does a backflip, and lands on the other side. :)
<DM> Hot DAMN, man.
<Liatus> wow
<11: Karnak> It's all flash. I've go no real combat skills. :)
<Meridius> In a different game they'd call that Graceful Crane Stance. :)
<DM> So there you are, looking at two utterly boggled goblins. Who do get attacks of opportunity on you, I believe, for dropping in on them.
<Karnak> No, because I made the Tumble roll DC15. :)
<DM> Whoops, right.
* 11: Silana now KNOWS she needed Combat Casting to not blow her casting while her jaw was dropping. O.O;
<DM> So they're there looking boggled.
<Karnak> I'll reach out and attempt a Stunning Fist attack on the one on the left.
<Liatus> We can see what Karnak is doing, yes?
<DM> There's another removed door in the south wall of their space, by the way, with a room heading off to the west.
## Karnak rolled 1d20 = 2 (2).
<DM> Yes.
<11: Karnak> "And my Righteous Iron Fist!" [Liatus]
* Karnak spends a few moments swirling his arms around in a fantastic display... very harmless.
<DM> Okay, who's next?
* 11: Karnak flails viciously with his Wrist Like Overcooked Udon! [Meridius]
<11: Goblins> "Ooooh, pretty." As they're mesmerised by the waving monk arms. [Silana]
<11: Karnak> Silana is up. :)
* 11: Liatus cackles
* Silana casts her spell, as previously described. The air shimmers around her and her owl for a split second.
<11: Karnak> Just keep those Cure Light Wounds warmed up, buddy. I'm going to need them.
<11: Karnak> Liatus is up.
<DM> Right.
<DM> Liatus?
<11: Gnaea> "Shields up, Captain." [Silana]
<Karnak> (note, I still have the lantern pole in one hand)
* 11: Karnak has rendered Liatus speechless!
* Liatus will be attempting to cast Command on one of the goblins.
<DM> Sounds good to me.
<11: Karnak> Ah, the one word command. Better hope the understand Common.
<Liatus> Specifically, I'll be commanding him to "FLEE! Flee before the divine might of the Imperial Presence, subhuman mongrel filth!"
## DM rolled 1d20 = 9 (9).
<DM> "Flee!" it gets, and promptly does attempt to flee past the lantern-twirling maniac.
<DM> Meridius?
<Karnak> Hold up.
<11: Liatus> My intent was clear.
* Meridius is holding.
<Karnak> So the Goblin is fleeing?
<Karnak> Ie... it runs past me, right?
<DM> Trying to, yeah.
<Karnak> (Goblins act after Liatus, so)
<Karnak> I get an AoO on it as it goes by, it has no Dex bonus to armor because its running.
<DM> Right.
* 11: Liatus was brandishing his sword and holy symbol while screaming.
<11: Karnak> And they seem to know some common, so. :)
## Karnak rolled 1d20 = 1 (1).
<11: DM> Love transcends language, yes.
* Karnak snorts, "I wave to it as it runs on by..."
<DM> Actually, Jason, you should roll that -after- Chris' actions. I'll let you do it again for being hasty. :)
<DM> Meridius goes and then the goblin can try to obey its command.
<11: Karnak> Why is Meridius interrupting the sequence?
<11: Karnak> I thought he used to his action to prep for next round?
<DM> Hold on a sec, let's get things back on track. I've been sloppy about action order, and would like to do better.
<DM> So.
<11: Karnak> Meridius, Gnaea, Karnak, Silana, Liatus, Goblins is the order.
<DM> Oh!
<11: Karnak> Currently in round 1 everyone except the Goblins has acted.
<DM> For some reason I thought Meridius came later in the sequence.
<DM> All right, so this is a fine time for your unsuccessful attack of opportunity on the one goblin.
<11: Silana> (And unless I drop or she's for some other reason acting on her own, Gnaea goes with me.)
<Liatus> I thought it was becuse he got a natural 20 for initiative.
* Karnak waves his arms around in grand sweeps, making snappy sounds and such while going "oooooaaaaoooo" like Bruce Lee.
<DM> The remaining goblin swings at you with its little morning star.
## DM rolled 1d20 = 17 (17).
<11: Karnak> So the order is Meridius, Karnak, Silana + Gnaea, Liatus, Goblins.
<11: Karnak> And he'll drop me nicely. :)
<DM> And hits!
## DM rolled 1d8-1 = 3 (4).
* Karnak goes oof.
<DM> For three points of damage. The spiky ball is not impressed by your hand gestures, apparently. Possibly it skewered your arms a bit.
<11: Karnak> Round 2:
<11: Karnak> Meridius is up.
<DM> The remaining goblin is out the other door and into the next room, from which come noises of tramping around, by the way.
<Liatus> Uh oh.
<11: Karnak> (and reinforcements on the way, so hurry. :)
* Meridius looks up prior to taking his action, sees that Karnak didn't follow instructions, and mutters, "Stercus," to himself.
<DM> Okay, it's a straight roll for the throw part, Chris.
* Meridius hurls his grappling hook down the hall and over the wall. If this works, he pulls on the rope to which the hook is attached and attempts to pull down the barricade.
## Meridius rolled 1d20 = 8 (8).
<11: Karnak> The wall is Large or Huge?
<11: Karnak> And he gets his Range attack bonus?
<11: DM> Large, I think.
<11: Karnak> (AC 9 if Large, AC 8 is Huge).
<11: DM> Just a sec.
<11: Karnak> PHB: pg 136
<11: Karnak> Size and AC of objects.
* 11: Liatus debates trying something potentually suicidal.
<11: Karnak> Also, Table 8-14 is the DC to break/burst objects.
<DM> Okay, I forgot the ranged bonus, so that's a success.
<11: Karnak> Save a CLW spell for me, Liatus. :)
<11: Silana> You're also not trying to HIT the wall, just throw the grapple past it.
<DM> Meridius does get his grapple between a couple of crennelations, and may make a Strength roll (1d20+3) to pull a chunk of wall down.
## Meridius rolled 1d20+3 = 20 (17).
<11: Liatus> (That being to take Meridius's shield and body surf down the hall way.)
<11: Karnak> Hee. :)
<11: Karnak> I should have thought of that. :)
<11: Karnak> And wow. Meridius is strong. :)
<DM> Meridius pulls, and enough of the wall for a man to charge through falls down.
<DM> Scaring the shit out of the remaining goblin.
<DM> Any ranged attacks on it are now against one-quarter cover rather than three-quarters.
<Liatus> And, cue the chick with the crossbow.
<Liatus> :)
<11: Karnak> Karnak is up.
* Karnak fights defensively (+2 AC, -4 to attack) and will unleash a flurry of impressive and likely ineffective blows on the goblin. Subdual.
## Karnak rolled 1d20-6 = 0 (6).
## Karnak rolled 1d20-6 = -5 (1).
<DM> That's pretty impressive.
* Karnak whoosh, whoosh, snap snap, riffle, whoosh, snap.
<Karnak> "eeeeooooaaah"
<11: Karnak> Now its Silana. :)
<11: Silana> Is the fleeing goblin still in view through the doorless opening, as it goes into the next room?
<11: DM> No. The goblins are in what amounts to a U-shaped bend.
<11: DM> So they get around that next bend and they're out of sight.
<Silana> Her other target having gone out of sight before she could target it, Silana lets fly a Magic Missile against the goblin fighting Karnak.
## Silana rolled 1d4+1 = 5 (4).
<11: Silana> Not bad. :)
<11: Karnak> Woot!
<11: Karnak> Liatus is up. :)
<DM> That poor goblin is skewered straight through and collapses dead on the spot.
* 11: Silana blows across the tip of her finger. :)
* Karnak thumbs his nose, and bounces on his feet. "Come on guys."
<11: Karnak> (since there's likely reinforcements on the way...)
<DM> You can make your way safely across the caltrops at half normal speed, or move normally and risk some poking.
<Meridius> Do we have a break in the current combat action?
<11: Karnak> Notes: If you use both actions (standard and move) you can cover the 20' safely.
<11: Karnak> If we have a break, it'll mean new initiatives later.
<DM> Well, not really. A group of goblins is coming around the next corner with javelins in their hands and strange stories in their ears.
<11: Meridius> What I want to know is do we have time before the next batch of goblins shows up.
<11: Karnak> I suspect we'll have at most a round or so.
<11: Meridius> And we don't, so...
<DM> Fortunately, thanks to Meridius, nobody else has to climb over that wall. :)
<11: Karnak> Figure 1 round for the fleeing goblin to give his story and the goblins to grab weapons.
<11: Karnak> and then they're around the next round.
<Meridius> "Liatus, move up and assist Karnak. Silana, cover with your crossbow. I'll clear these caltrops in case we need to retreat quickly."
<DM> You're gathered in a 20' square room that used to have two doors in its south wall. One had the barrier you just came through, and one that's just an open space now.
<11: Karnak> So Liatus can move up to next to me in his round, and then it'll be the Goblins.
<11: DM> Right.
<Meridius> I'm leaving the rope and grappling hook lay for the time being, but I gather my shield, dropped pilum, and then set to clearing a path in the caltrops.
<DM> Righto You can clear a 5' square of area each round that way.
<11: Karnak> Hopefully the goblins take a round to get ready. :)
* Silana nods to Meridius, smiling a bit tensely. He's starting to remind her of the elder of her two brothers, with his military efficiency and forethought. "Right." She takes up a suitable firing position, leaning her staff against the wall and raising her crossbow.
<11: Karnak> Then we come around to Round 3: Meridius re-equips as a move-equivalent action (+1 BAB lets him combine them), and takes his standard action to clear caltrops.
* Liatus picks his way through the hallway, sword in hand
<DM> So we know what Meridius is up to. Who's next?
* Karnak will grin at Liatus, say "Fun!" and turn to face where the goblins will come from, going full defensive (+4 AC, no attack).
* Gnaea is watching back the direction we came from, just in case of surprises. [Silana]
<DM> Righto, Karnak. Next?
<11: Karnak> After Karnak, it's Silana, who set up with her crossbow to provide covering fire, and then we're back to Liatus, standing beside me.
<DM> Liatus can go around the corner if he wants, or wait here.
<11: Karnak> I assume Liatus will hold his action, planning to attack if Goblins show up around the corner?
* Liatus waits with Karnak, on guard for attack.
<11: Karnak> (this means if Goblins come around and step into his threat zone, Liatus can attack before they do...)
<11: Karnak> So now we're at the Goblins.
<11: DM> True enough.
<DM> Two goblins charge around the corner. They each go for one of the guys in front. Liatus and Karnak therefore each get an attack of opportunity.
<DM> The goblins are AC 15, just so you know.
<11: Karnak> No AoO actually.
<11: Karnak> They're not going threat zone to threat zone.
* Liatus stabs one with his short sword.
<11: DM> Ah.
<11: Karnak> But Liatus can get a straight attack in, as he held his action.
<11: Karnak> Karnak doesn't since he's full defense.
<DM> Okay, Liatus, your attack against a goblin.
* 11: Karnak hehs, "Where's our fighter?" ;)
* Liatus checks. Attack +1 for melee. Is that with or without my Weapon Focus: Short Sword?
<Karnak> With.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+1 = 19 (18).
<11: Karnak> +0 BAB + 0 Str bonus + 1 Weapon Focus bonus.
<11: Karnak> Nearly a critical threat, too. :)
<DM> A nice solid hit. Damage time!
<Liatus> Is that a critical, or is that only on a natural 19 or 20?
<11: Karnak> Natural 19-20 only.
<11: Karnak> (20 for most things, 19-20 for swords and daggers and such)
* 11: Liatus nods
<11: Liatus> 1d6 or 1d6+1?
<11: Karnak> straight d6.
<11: Karnak> Weapon Focus just gives a bonus to hit, not damage.
## Liatus rolled 1d6 = 4 (4).
<DM> With one quick thrust, Liatus is through the goblin's armor and into his vitals, and he drops dead on the spot.
<11: Karnak> Goblins are wimpy, though, so that might do it... (hope hope)
<11: Karnak> Great, just one left to attack me!
<11: Liatus> huzzah
* 11: Karnak is AC 14+4 for defensive fightings, so AC18. :)
<DM> The other goblin swings at the weird guy.
<11: Karnak> (told you that you were burning up the bad rolls...)
* Karnak bobs, weaves, ducks...
<DM> (There's "the noisy guy" and "the weird guy" as far as the goblins are concerned.)
## DM rolled 1d20+1 = 14 (13).
* 11: Karnak whews.
<11: Karnak> Okay, Round 3 ends.
<DM> And it's a good swing but his morningstar is no match for Karnak's dexterity.
<11: Karnak> Round 4, Meridius is 5' into the hall, clearing caltrops and can act.
<Meridius> Do more caltrops need to be cleared before a path is made?
<DM> Yes, it's a 20' long hall from the trapped door to the barricade you pulled down.
<11: Karnak> 5' per action, so it'll be 3 rounds to clear the hall.
<Meridius> I'll keep working on caltrops, then.
* 11: Karnak bwahahahaha.
<DM> There are more noises from around the corner these two goblins around, and neither of them is the one Liatus commanded to flee.
<11: Karnak> Bastard. :)
<11: Karnak> Karnak is up.
<11: Karnak> (and 10' of the hall is cleared)
* Karnak will fight defensively (+2 AC, -4 attack) again, and again do a flurry of blows on the target in front of him.
<11: Liatus> You know, if I could've done it in a way that seemed in character, I would've commanded the goblin to dance.
## Karnak rolled 1d20-6 = 8 (14).
## Karnak rolled 1d20-6 = 11 (17).
* 11: Karnak laughs. :)
* Karnak whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
<DM> Karnak hits from time to time, but with little effect.
* 11: Karnak needs to get another feat, darn it. Then I'll be dangerous.
<11: Karnak> Silana is up.
* Liatus stabs another one of the little monkeys.
<11: Karnak> Silana before Liatus.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+1 = 2 (1).
<DM> Hold it, BA. Dan first.
<Liatus> Ah
* Silana will pick one of the new arrivals (whichever she has a better shot at) and fire, hopefully before it enters melee.
<DM> There's only one still standing; it's in melee with Karnak.
* 11: Karnak watches BA snatch up that bad die. :)
<Liatus> Ah, ok, I thought another pair had rounded the corner.
<11: Karnak> -4 to hit in melee. The chance to hit someone in combat is a variant, we discovered last night, BTW. Dunno if bruce will want to play with it.
<11: Silana> I'm confused. Sorry, misread. I thought two more showed up.
<11: DM> It's in the PHB, Jason. P. 123, in the diagram.
<11: Karnak> Two ran up. Liatus dropped one.
* Silana will hold her action, then, waiting to fire on the next one that appears.
<11: Karnak> Oh, the -4 is the rule.
<11: DM> And also the chance to hit someone else.
<11: Karnak> Okay, Silana is holding. Liatus is up.
<11: Karnak> (that's if they're providing cover, I believe?)
<11: DM> Could be. Anyway.
<DM> Liatus, now you can roll your attack.
<Liatus> reroll?
<DM> Yes.
* Liatus stabs the remaining goblin in the back before he can hit Karnak.
<DM> In person I'd have stopped you earlier, so.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+1 = 19 (18).
<11: Karnak> Woo. Liatus rocks. :)
<DM> Another darned good hit.
## Liatus rolled 1d6 = 2 (2).
<11: Karnak> Maybe the goblin will get distracted by the big armored guy sticking him.
<DM> You've skewered him well, but he's still standing.
<11: Karnak> Goblins are up... note, Silana will interrupt any goblins coming around the corner to get a shot at them.
<DM> No goblins are coming around the corner this time. The one still up decides to swing back at the guy who just hurt him.
## DM rolled 1d20+1 = 3 (2).
<DM> To absolutely no avail whatsoever. The Imperial Presence protects its own.
<11: Karnak> Round 5: Meridius is up. (10' of corridor is clear)
<Meridius> I continue to work on clearing caltrops.
* Karnak unleashes the most devastating series of moves known to him! (straight flurry of blows)
## Karnak rolled 1d20-2 = 9 (11).
<11: Karnak> Darn, should have moved to flank. D'oh.
## Karnak rolled 1d20-2 = 14 (16).
<DM> You're getting closer.
* Karnak then moves to flank the goblin using a 5' step (and giving Liatus a +2)
<11: Karnak> Silana is up.
<11: Liatus> So I roll 1d20+3 this time?
<11: Karnak> One Silana is done, yeah.
* 11: Liatus nods.
<11: Karnak> Once, even.
* Silana still has no valid targets other than the one that two of her friends are already fighting, so she continues holding.
<11: Karnak> Silana maintains hold, so Liatus is up.
* Liatus stabs the goblin again.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+3 = 23 (20).
<11: Karnak> Possible critical. Roll again, same bonuses.
## Liatus rolled 1d20+3 = 8 (5).
<11: Liatus> darn
<DM> Still a hit!
<11: Liatus> So, 1d6 again for damage?
<11: Karnak> Yep. :)
## Liatus rolled 1d6 = 2 (2).
<DM> With a second slice to match the first, Liatus sends this goblin down like yesterday's bread prices.
* Karnak gives a little cheer, "Hooorah" and claps Liatus on the shoulder (and misses, probably).
<11: Silana> A heads-up, I'm going to have to break for dinner at 7. I'd be up for more afterward, if people are willing.
<DM> The tally right now is three dead goblins in this room, one fled around the corner, and whatever else may be there.
<11: Karnak> I think it's a good place to break, actually. I need dinner, and a shower, and a walk... :)
<11: Silana> (7 EST, or in 17 minutes.)
<11: Liatus> I was really hoping for a crit with maximum damage. I wanted to cut it's head off and then try bouncing it off the wall around the corner, to scare whatever was in there.
<11: Silana> Yeah, that's why I was hoping the fleeing one was still in sight before. I wanted to MU-missile it to give its buddies something to think about before charging out here. ;)
<Liatus> Meridius is up, I think
<11: Karnak> And Meridius finishes clearing the corridor at the start of Round 6.
* Meridius continues to clear caltrops until a path is made.
<DM> So that's Meridius.
<DM> Karnak, going around the corner?
<Karnak> Karnak will move up to the corner, and poke his head around to take a peek. I'll try and "hide" though, so at to hopefully avoid arrows and javelins and such thrown at me.
<Karnak> If that's possible?
<DM> Sure.
## Karnak rolled 1d20+4 = 19 (15).
<DM> That will suffice.
<11: Liatus> Maybe if we took one of the dead guys, stood him up and shoved him around the corner.
* 11: Karnak laughs, "That's very Total Recall of you. :)"
* 11: Karnak notes, after my amazing start, I really am not a fighter, am I.
<11: Liatus> More of an acrobat, i think.
* Karnak holds his ribs, too, and tries to ignore the trickle of blood staining his muddy shirt.
<DM> This little segment of hallway runs south from the room you've just been slaughtering in, and then opens out to the west. Peering around the corner, you can see a room about 15' wide, lit with torches, and another barrier like the one Meridius pulled down running across its width. There's a door in the west wall on this side of the barrier, another past it, and one in the north wall. There are two or perhaps three goblins skulking behind the barrier, looking for their opportunity.
<11: Karnak> It's that pacificist temple of his. Never really taught him much more than Tai Chi. :)
* Karnak ducks his head back and says, "Another defensive wall."
<Karnak> "Maybe three, four more goblins behind it."
<Meridius> When I've got the caltrops cleared I'll gather up my hook and rope and move up to where the rest of the party is.
<Liatus> Do they look on edge?
* Silana will advance with Meridius, then, keeping her crossbow at the ready in case another one charges.
<11: Meridius> Should we pause here or engage the fresh batch of goblins?
<11: DM> I'm amenable either way.
<DM> They look a _lot_ on edge.
<Liatus> Excellent :)
<11: Meridius> I'm good to play further as well.
<11: Karnak> I'd say break.
* Liatus is pulling the "Total Recall" stunt with one of the dead bodies.
<11: Karnak> I need to get food and such, and it is a good spot.
* 11: Karnak ponders if Silana could take out the gobbos with Magic Missiles?
<11: Silana> I only have two more L1 spells today.
* 11: Karnak hmms.
<DM> Let's take a break here, then, since folks have dinner issues and the like.
* 11: Meridius has tactics for the next stage of combat prepared.
<11: Silana> Sorry, SuzyQ was on day shift today and is now home and wanting to eat. :)
* 11: Karnak admits that 4 hours is about how long he can manage in general. :) And is willing to follow Meridius' plan this time. :)
<11: Meridius> Are we pausing temporarily, or closing out this session?
* 11: Karnak would like to close.
<11: DM> 225 XP for the goblins downed so far, plus whatever else from earlier.
<11: Meridius> Okay, cool.
<11: DM> That's total, to be divided.
* Liatus searches the dead bodies then while waiting for Meridius to join us.
<11: Karnak> What's the hand out for the Goblins?
<Liatus> For some clue to the missing explorers' whereabouts, of course.
<11: Karnak> Sorry, Dire Rats?
<Liatus> (Cough)
* 11: Karnak gets 56 xp each from the goblins, then.
<11: DM> 300 for the dire rats, just to Karnak.
## DM rolled 2d10+2 = 7 (3 2).
## DM rolled 2d10+2 = 17 (8 7).
<DM> You find a total of 24 silver pieces in loose change on the goblins' bodies, and their armor and weapons. :)
* 11: Karnak suggest to Bruce that be dropped to 75 (my share if we all fought them), and that if we later face them, everyone else gets to divy the remain 225 xp from them?
<11: DM> Sure, that'll work.
* Liatus pockets the silver.
* 11: Karnak doesn't want to end up too far ahead of folks. It makes working up challenges and such difficult if one person is 2nd, and the rest 1st.
<DM> So what's the XP totals to date?
* Karnak is at 468 xp by his count (337 + 56 + 75)
<DM> Since obviously others are keeping better records than I am. :)
<Karnak> We're down 1 Magic Missile from Silana, 1 Command from Liatus.
<Silana> And one Mage Armor from me, too.
<Karnak> Meridius is still down 1 hp from earlier, and Karnak is down 3 hp from this fight.
<Meridius> I only know how many XP I had from last session. I don't know how many I've gotten this session.
* Karnak nods.
<Karnak> 56, Chris.
<Karnak> (56.25 for exact)
<Silana> I have 2 L1 and 5 L0 spells left for the day.
* Liatus doesn't know how many XPs he got for the first session, and I missed the second.
<Karnak> That's in Chris's log, at the end.
* 11: Liatus has no trouble with Karnak getting to level 2 fast, as long as it means he can start hiting stuff :)
<DM> Just a sec, BA.
<Silana> And when we start up again, my Mage Armor is still running. It lasts an hour, and we've only gone a few rounds since I cast it.
<DM> 387 points for the first two sessions, plus 56 for this time.
<DM> Chris, add 56 to your tally, too.
<Meridius> The 56 Jason just told me of, or another 56?
<DM> That's the same 56.
*** Meridius is now known as iChris.
<Karnak> What's your log url again, Chris?
*** DM is now known as Bruce.
*** Karnak is now known as Jason.
<Silana> Okay, I have to poof. I'll keep this window and my log running to catch the rest of what's said.
<iChris> http://www.q7.com/~carter/rpg/ <-- go to that URL and you'll find the log links at the bottom of the page.
<Bruce> So folks are just past or closing in on halfway to 2nd level, depending on their individual circumstances.
<iChris> And I'll have the log of today's session up in the next day or two.
<Bruce> That was an interesting session. Mostly dodging trouble. :)
<Liatus> It's 1000 XP to get to level 2, yes?
*** Liatus is now known as BA.
<Bruce> Yes.
<Jason> Okay, reviewing the logs...
<Jason> I see we're 75 xp + 387 xp + 56 xp = 518 xp total each. Chris/Meridius is +150 xp on that, and Jason/Karnak is +75.
<Bruce> Oh, okay, Jason, thanks.
* Jason has added XPs to the Treasure & Kills page.
<Jason> http://members.shaw.ca/ogier/treaskill.htm
<Bruce> Thanks, Jason.
<Jason> And the 24 sp are up there too. :)
<BA> What 24 sp?
<iChris> The 24 sp you pocketed, BA . :)
* BA has no idea what you're talking about.
* BA whistles innocently.
<Jason> The 24 sp that Liatus, the follower of Law, the obeyer of rules, the man of society turned over to the party treasury. :)
* Jason grins.
<Jason> So we're all over 1/2 way. Which is about right, considering we've had 3 sessions.
* Jason figures around 4-5 sessions to level.
<BA> OK, but each of you has to pay a 60 cp tithe of that take to the Emperor, whom I am the official representative of.
* Bruce laughs.
<Jason> We'll get to that at the party treasure division stage. :)
* Jason expects we'll also have to pay an Adventuring Tax.
<Jason> And a fine, for adventuring without a permit.
<BA> Clerics are tax exempt.
<Jason> And a Adventuring Party registration fee...
<Jason> Okay, thanks guys. Was a lot of fun to do a Matrix move. By level 3, I'll kick ass. :)
<iChris> Seeya, Jason.
<carter@q7.com>