D&D Night

[MurderWeasel]

((I'm going to go ahead and post, since I think Sister G is still away))

Will's die bounced off the table, and Aaron went after it right away. Will wouldn't cheat, but better safe than sorry. The number rolled was a six: not abysmal but certainly nowhere near good enough for the situation at hand. Aaron was about to narrate Will's character's ghastly death, when Bounce chimed in with a suggestion for saving him.

The suggestion itself threw Aaron. It was logical, and he was sure there were rules for it, but he couldn't remember them off the top of his head. He could take the time to look them up, of course, but that would tip the others off to the fact the he wasn't as prepared as usual. He really didn't want to do that. It would look bad, lazy. There was only one thing to do: make something up and hope the players didn't notice.

"Alright, there's enough time for Stephen to get in and try to hold the block back, casting Bull's Strength in the process."

Here, he rolled a D20 and glanced at it. 18 was a high number, so that should count for something, right?

"He's able to hold it long enough for Will to slip out."

He rolled the die again, and this time the result was a one. He frowned.

"Unfortunately, he isn't able to keep it up, and is overcome by the force of the wall," Aaron raised the screen a couple of inches, revealing the die with the one facing upwards to everyone, "and is crushed flat."

He grabbed a handful of dice and rolled them for damage, but that was just for show. He glanced at them, but didn't take the time to add them up.

"He takes 107 points of damage. If my notes are correct, that puts Stephen at -53 hit points. He is turned into a smear on the wall; some blood oozes out from where he is crushed. On the upside, Will's still alive.

"Would anyone like to save some blood to get Stephen revived later?"

Aaron smiled.

First catch of the day. Man, that felt good. Nothing to relieve tension like some imaginary fantasy violence.

Stephen didn't look very happy at all, but he'd get over it. It wasn't like it mattered anyways.

[banthesun†]

Wow, had Stephen done something to Aaron? That did seem a little brutal, but he'd rolled a one. This kinda stuff happened right? Though of course Aaron could have fudged the roll behind his screen.

Will had been wondering why Aaron hadn't, but it did occur to him that perhaps Aaron had fudged the roll to a one.

Nah, that's just being silly, he wouldn't do that.

This sudden violence had something of an unsettling influence on Will. He preferred to play the game for the loot and experience, building a character and his legend. Sudden splatterings of party members didn't really fit into this picture. Sure they could revive him, well, resurrect him, but all his gear would have probably turned into that mush against the wall.

"Right, I guess I scoop some up."

Not exactly the most dignified manner of saving him, but not much had been dignified about that little scene.

"Is any of his gear salvageable? Actually on second thoughts, I'm getting out of this tunnel, probably better to talk this over outside."

Will didn't often get scared by this game, but the thought that that could be his character they were bottling definitely put him on edge.

[Sister Grimm†]

((Hey, sorry for the absence. Bit of a family reunion sort of thing.))

It seemed she had made the right decision by waiting outside. Not even five minutes into the game and someone had already been eliminated. At this rate, they'd all be dead by the end of the hour. No, that kind of thinking wouldn't help anything. She was the groups muscle, the tank. It occurred to her she might have been more useful inside the tunnel with Will, where her strength might have been better served saving him and Stephan then standing around looking intimidating. Well, they'd gathered some of Stephan's remains so he'd get better sooner or later. More then likely, later. In the mean time, they were down a healer unless Bounce could muster something up. She wasn't sure what she had in her collection, so it'd probably be better to play it safe.

One of the other two tunnels would probably be lined with traps as well, with one tunnel actually leading into the dungeon proper. Of course, that was just an idea. Will hadn't made it far enough through the first to see where it lead. She was still new to this, so she didn't know if it was possible to create an un-winnable scenario.

If so, it was possible the goal of the first tunnel was to trap the party, if there was no other way out aside from the entrance. If she was forced to guess, without any actual evidence or exploration of any other tunnel, she would guess the far right tunnel was trapped as well, with the center the real entrance to the supposed dungeon. If only Will had made it further inside, they would have a rudimentary idea of the layout, or at least of the entrance.

If the surviving group was once gain gathered at the entrance, they had a chance to think things out. If they had a way of seeing what was ahead without risking their characters. "Bounce, do you have remote viewing, or anything similar? I'm reluctant to proceed without some idea of what's waiting for us."

[Namira]

Oops...

Bounce regretted that her plan had wound up getting Steven's character killed, but in the end... she'd only come up with the idea, it was Steven's choice whether or not to follow along with it. Especially since he was probably aware that she herself didn't have a good enough strength score to perform the whole thing herself...

"I do not think it is even a good idea to continue, personally..." Bounce said to the others. She really didn't like how things were going. "We have not even entered the dungeon yet, and we have already lost a party member. Our healer at that. This seems... rather too difficult for us."

Bounce gave Aaron a meaningful look at that. Still, she somewhat doubted everyone would want to give up right away... even after such a bad start.

"Unfortunately I do not have a spell like that... I have been rather relying on Will's abilities of late."

[MurderWeasel]

Will left the tunnel, and everyone paused to think about what to do. Stephen was being very quiet, but that was usual, right? Aaron certainly wasn't about to worry about it. Besides, if he felt singled out, well, soon he'd have company in the dead pile, and that would surely make him feel better. At least he'd died a hero.

Bounce's suggestion that they back off made Aaron a little bit nervous. She commented on the difficulty, and shot him a look, but he ignored it. Best to power on. Changing things now would just make everything chaotic and messy, and surely mess things up far more than just going ahead would. He didn't handle change or improvisation well, not at all. He could come up with a plan quickly enough, but not if he was already following a different one.

At this point, he only had a few options. He could attempt to force the group into the dungeon. He could do so directly, telling them to go, but that would ensure rebellion. He could be more subtle, having some overwhelming force attack from the bottom of the hill, but again, that would likely cause them to seek a sneaky way out.

His best bet was just to let them decide to enter on their own. It wasn't a sure thing, but it would circumvent any attempts to derail his plans for the sheer sake of derailing them.

Still, he could help things along a bit...

He rolled a few dice behind the screen, and glanced at them. There was no purpose behind the roll, but with any luck it would keep everyone on edge. Then he sat back to listen to their plans.

[banthesun†]

Oh my god it's another trap! No, no, way to be paranoid, he's probably just rolling for the sake of it. God knows I'd start rolling if everyone said 'let's have a chat about this for a while instead of doing anything'.

Will wondered why his internal monologue had taken the effort to put on a funny voice for that line.

But back to the topic on hand! So we've lost our healer, and all other possible trap detection, and we're still at square one. Pulling back doesn't seem like to bad an option. Wait a moment!

"Wait a moment! Relying on my abilities? I want some back up before I try that again! We don't have a chance to sac Stephen twice!"

Of course this comment got a burst of annoyed grumbling from Stephen, but Will brushed him aside.

"You don't want your sacrifice wasted right? I'm holding your remains in a bottle right now, so you have an interest in my survival too. So if we're going on I'll need some kind of failsafe."

So maybe I've gone a bit too far, that was hardly dashing of me.

[Sister Grimm†]

Alice took a more observant role while everyone tried to decide what to do now that they were clear of the trapped tunnel. It meant they were safe for a time, until Aaron became impatient and forced action. He could always just tell them to enter the tunnel, or he might send some monsters after them, forcing a retreat. Whatever the group decided on, they'd enter the dungeon. The only real question was which tunnel the group would choose. Her choice was still the center, but in the end it might not matter. If both were trapped...

Aaron rolled the dice behind screen, and her eyes snapped to the screen, as if she was expecting to see through it. After a second, she glanced up at Aaron then back to the table. The group was already on edge, so he was probably just playing off that. He hadn't said anything, so it was a safe bet.

"I put my vote to the center tunnel. We're going sooner or later, so we might as well pick one and move on. I should go first, with Will close enough behind me to effectively check for traps. My character can act as a shield, of sorts, should we run into anything waiting for us." She looked around the table offering a faint smile. "Unless anyone else has any other idea, of course."

[Namira]

"I meant that I have not been preparing magical back-up Will, as I have relied on you to find traps, not that you should forge ahead unsupported."

Perhaps that was a little testy of her, but Bounce was uneasy. Of course, characters died - that was part of the game, and a few lucky (or unlucky) rolls here and there could change the face of things, but... she couldn't help but be a little paranoid. Will's roll hadn't been all that bad, from what she'd seen, and a trap that lethal with that high of a DC to detect...

It just smelt, for want of a better word, fishy.

Bounce's feelings of disquiet weren't eased at all when she heard the tell-tale clatter of dice on the table, and glanced over to see Aaron eyeing something behind his screen. Was this area outside safe? Of course it was... they'd made camp there the previous night - if there were any hazards, they would have affected them at the end of their last session. Could the triggering of the trap inside of the passageway have set something else off? It seemed plausible.

"If we are to move on... we should not overcommit. There are three passageways, and presumably, only one is a true entrance. That means we should be wary of more traps, and similarly lethal ones."

Bounce looked Aaron's way once again at that, but decided not to say anything more. It was just bad luck Stephen had been killed. After all, he had rolled a one. Anything much larger than that, and he would probably have been fine...

"I suppose we should go on... caution needs to be the watchword."

And we will need it, if there are more traps such as that one ahead...

[MurderWeasel]

Aaron sighed quietly while the group continued to discuss things. He understood the need to plan, but it didn't make it any easier for him to sit still while others did it. Finally, they seemed to reach a consensus to investigate the middle tunnel. That was too bad; it was the one that actually lead into the dungeon. Still, it would at least keep things moving.

They hadn't exactly announced that they were going in yet, but Aaron was getting a little fidgety, they were going to say they entered soon, and there weren't any traps right in their path anyway, so he just went ahead and pretended they had stated their actions.

"You enter the middle tunnel, Alice in front, Will behind searching for traps, Bounce bringing up the rear. The tunnel is old and dusty, with small drifts of sand in various places on the floor. On the walls are several old murals and paintings."

He rolled some dice, ignored them.

"Will, you realize right before Alice takes a step about twenty five feet in that there is a trap ahead of her. You're able to warn her in time, though.

"Bounce, since you aren't searching for traps, you see something weird about one of the paintings on the wall. The painting shows two men holding a giant chest between them. The chest, however, is three-dimensional; it protrudes about six inches from the wall. It's about a foot by eight inches."

The chest was another trap, one Bounce would probably pick up on almost immediately, but maybe they'd linger and check it out.

"What do you do?"

Throughout his description, Aaron ignored Stephen. He couldn't really spare him the attention right now.

[banthesun†]

Hardly dashing at all. Bounce was seemed angry with him, well, slightly more testy than usual perhaps, Will couldn't really tell. And Alice was taking the lead. So much for chivalrous Mister Silverblade. Oh well, she was the meat-shield anyway, so it wasn't his place to be complaining.

What! Bounce found the chest? Wasn't it my job to steal all the loot? Meh, I guess this can be my chivalry, she can have the loot.

"I was searching for traps and I didn't see it? That means it's not a trap, right? Or I would have seen it first, right?"

And the other matter on hand, another trap, hopefully not quite as deadly as the last one.

"As for the trap, can easily see how to disarm it, or am I going to have to play the throw-random-objects-at-it-until-it-goes-off game?"

He'd stopped Alice standing on it too, that was a full chivalry quota for the turn, wasn't it?

[Sister Grimm†]

Until they actually reached the dungeon proper, or something to kill, the majority of her job was to stand around and take the hits for the rest of the party. Even when they did encounter a monster, she was still the one taking the hits. At least then, she'd have a chance to do something more then stand around and wait for the more adaptable members to point the way. Maybe she should multi-class to something else down the line. As it was, she didn't really have much use out of fighting. At least Bounce could learn spells for abilities her character lacked.

After Will pointed out the trap, she offered a slight nod as way of thanks before waiting on one of them to check the chest Aaron pointed out. It was obviously a trap, but Will had a point about not picking it up. "Is it possible your 'check traps' skill isn't high enough?" She asked, glancing from Will to the board as Aaron rolled the dice again. Maybe it was compulsive. He did seem to be doing it an awful lot without any apparent result.

Maybe a mage. She thought absently to herself, going to back to her previous train of thought while Bounce and Will dealt with the chest. She shifted, propping her elbow on her knee, and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. It wasn't that she needed to vary her offensive capabilities. She never stabbed anything that didn't stop being an immediate problem. It was just that she felt a little useless standing around like this.

[Namira]

Bounce's eyes narrowed slightly at Aaron's presumption, but it seemed he wasn't forcing them into any immediate danger, so she decided not to make a fuss. She didn't, however, like the group being so casually moved along. There were far better ways to railroad the team than the one Aaron had used.

All the same, she supposed that it was just impatience on the part of the DM to get the party moving. Bounce was still uneasy at the loss of Stephen's character, but in the end, it wouldn't be much of a session if they'd aborted it five minutes in, would it?

The chest she'd spotted raised another concern. Bounce tended to be a very wary person - at least where this sort of game was in the picture. Although Will raised a good point about the traps... a different thought occured to her.

"Maybe... but it would not be the first trap you had failed to spot, would it?" Bounce gave Stephen a passing glance. "If you want loot, be my guest, I am not going anywhere close to that chest."

Bounce gave Aaron another sidelong glance, trying to gauge his reaction. That was a far better way than any dice roll to see if there was something wrong. Bounce wasn't really the best at reading faces, but some signs simply couldn't be missed. Of course, that did depend on any reaction in the first place.

But Aaron... he is not the best at hiding his feelings now, is he?

[MurderWeasel]

Hmm... they aren't taking the bait. Oh well...

Aaron frowned slightly, and then answered Will's questions.

"It may be a trap. It may not. You can examine it more thoroughly if you like. The trap you found is a pit trap, you think. You can probably just walk around it, unless you want to set it off for some inexplicable reason."

They were actually doing pretty well so far. Disconcertingly well, in fact. The module was pretty famous. Could some of them have read it before? No, none of them were into D&D enough, and he'd never mentioned it. They couldn't have known to read it.

"Hey, uh, since we're nowhere near someone who can revive me, I may as well head out," Stephen said. He sounded pretty grumpy, but also like he was asking for something. On a better day, Aaron might have caught it, and tossed him sort sort of thing to do: playing monsters, playing a friendly character the group rescued later on, something of the sort. Today was not a good day, though, and he wasn't paying enough attention to figure out what Stephen was asking for.

"Yeah, sure, see you next week," Aaron replied. He wasn't a babysitter. If Stephen was upset, it was his own fault. It was just a game, after all, and deaths happened.

Speaking of which...

"Everyone, make listen checks," Aaron directed. He was pretty sure one of them was trained in listen (which was, oddly enough a skill improved by practice). If not, someone would roll high enough to justify giving out information anyways.

Aaron was calling for a listen check because he was doing something he normally didn't like: diverting from the plan. Still, the players seemed to be going nowhere. Normally he was more patient, but today... today he needed some action, some something to help him blow off a little steam. What better than a monster?

And what better monster than a bodak? Bodaks were horrifying undead, with the unique ability to kill creatures simply by looking at them. Surely one would get someone. The ability to resist the bodak's gaze of death was based on physical toughness, which meant that Alice probably stood the best chance. She wasn't too familiar with the rest of the game, so she wouldn't be much of a problem to deal with later.

He was so absorbed in planning the attack that he didn't notice the grin spreading across his face, or Stephen's quiet departure. The boy had simply walked out while Aaron was looking down, without so much as a goodbye.

What a sore loser...

[banthesun†]

Why was no-one trusting his trap finding skills? Sure they'd failed once, as Bounce had so kindly pointed out, but he was the party's rouge, this was what he was meant to be good at, well, this and opening doors. So much for Bounce's "relying on him to find traps". Still, loot was loot, and a treasure chest hidden like that would probably contain some kind of cryptic artefact that would only have a use when they got deeper into the dungeon. Traps and bonuses in equal measure, the kinda thing that makes a good dungeon. Still, that didn't prevent the possibility of it being trapped, but at least he could rule out squishy or falling traps without being repetitive.

Will's chain of thought was interrupted by Steven's departure. He felt kinda guilty; it was his trap that got him squished.

Eh, screw him. I've already used my chivalry quota on the girls, for what good that was.

Will stopped paying him attention.

"I'll take ten on the box then."

At that point Aaron asked for listen checks. Chances were, this wasn't good. Will had a die on hand he'd been playing with. He bounced it on the table.

"Er, cancel the taking ten then, I roll a 16."

[Sister Grimm†]

Alice didn't really pay any mind to Stephan taking his leave. Why would she? As limited as her social circle was, were it not for these meetings, she'd still have no idea who he was. To be honest, it didn't extend outside Bounce, Tenna, and Vic. Maybe the people in her various clubs, you know, fencing and acrobatics, maybe Will and Aaron.

Of course, even if he was part of the few she called friend, her thoughts were focused entirely on the game at hand. Plotting out her next move, so on and so forth. Granted, their advance into the dungeon had been rocky so far. Stephan could attest to that. But that was just bad luck, nothing to do with actual difficulty. It was about time that Aaron brought out something to impede what progress they had made.

It was too soon for it to be anything huge. She was new, lacking experience. With that lack of experience came a lack of knowledge of what exactly to expect. She guessed that she would just have to rely on Bounce and Will, and hope that whatever it was that did come for them wasn't impervious to being stabbed. Not impossible, from what she knew. Not without better gear then she had.

Listen check, eh? Something to do with the monster that was undoubtedly about to appear? Whatever it was, they would be ready for it. When it did come to her turn to roll, her toss was light, with little spin on it. "13." She said flatly, waiting for Bounce and then whatever Aaron had to throw at them.