Turn, alternate history and why does this drag on?
Subject Turn
It is going to be this afternoon before I get the turn out.
My boss came down with 9 new printed items that I have to get into the system today and that is going to take almost all of the morning.
Sorry
From: Kevin
Subject Turn
I hate bosses that think business related work is more important than your personal stuff, especially on company time.
Damn them all to hell.
Merry Christmas!!
From: Josh
Subject Turn
Couldn't you just kindly explain to your boss that you've got other more pressing personal matters to attend to? I don't see why he'd mind.
I guess this is why I'm a failure at a real job. ;-)
From: Mark
Subject Turn
I actually have to work tomorrow morning, but I do not expect there to be a whole lot going on.
Next week could be interesting. There are three ladies who are going to be out and I am their back up. They usually do not all take off at the same time, but it is Christmas and due to my surgery I have no time off left, so I get to do the work of 4 next week. Luckily it is a short week, 3-1/2 days.
From: Randy
Subject Turn
Ranthir is ready to go along with whatever the plan is. He will be ready with his crossbow in case something gets through before the door can be closed again.
OOC: Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a great holiday
From: Karl
Subject Turn
I have to work tomorrow, too. But I'm one of the guys taking off all next week (neener, neener)!
From: Mark
Subject Turn
OOC: Salix summons a giant pine cone but messes up where is is supposed to appear and so gets crushed underneath it.
From: Karl
Subject Turn
I was actually relieved to read the words that followed "appear".
From: Kevin
Subject Turn
I thought he would have summoned it to where the sun don't shine, and it would be facing the wrong way.
Ouchh.
From: Mark
Subject Lunch and turn
Ok I got all the items made and the approval process started. My part is basically done.
Now it is out to lunch and make a house payment and then, hopefully, a turn this afternoon.
From: Kevin
Subject Alternate history
In an alternate reality, very, very close to this one, the following happens
The group moves slowly toward the door, each one taking a listen at the door. No one is able to understand the sounds behind the door, but they all encounter the same coldness through the door.
Finally, Harp and Ragnar swing open the door and take a look inside.
To their surprise, they see a fat old man dressed in red yelling and screaming at a bunch of small creatures that look like a cross between Surin and Ran. While his words are not directly understandable, his tone is very obvious. The creatures are milling about a large carriage like structure, except instead of wheels it has ski's on the bottom. On top of that, there are a bunch of elk like creatures bridled up to the front of the contraption, with one really ugly one with a glowing nose at the very front. The room is full of snow, as if a polar ice cap had been transported whole into the room.
The man dressed in red hears the group enter, turns, and sees the group. He then throws up a shout to the little people who proceed to pull out strange looking items from the carriage. The largest of the creatures tosses something that looks like an all metal crossbow the the guy in red, who then takes an obviously aggressive stance.
Harp prays for Comprehend Languages, so he can at least know what the creaturs are saying. The tone is obvious, but while he understands the words, the meaning is unclear. Something about a trip, and delivering something, and being hijacked while working with a bunch of scruffy, lazy, layabout cousins of trolls, having to feed and house animals that smelled like moldy blankets and passed gas like a septic tank. There was some discussion about a wife as fat as a small nation, and the increasing demands of an increasingly ungrateful customer base. If he found out who had kidnapped him and put him behind schedule, he was going to do something that Harp was unsure was physically possible.
Just having a little Chirstmas fun.
From: Josh
Subject Alternate history
You forgot the part where they gave Kal a vorpal rapier.
I'll just mark it on my sheet anyway. +7 sound about right to everyone?
From: Kevin
Subject Alternate history
I was thinking of a fast loading crossbow of unerring hits. Sort of like the one they had in that stupid Van Helsing movie.
From: Josh
Subject Alternate history
Kal'd get a -8 if he tried to wield one, along with a buncha other bad stuff. :(
From: Karl
Subject Alternate history
Uh, Kal just gets coal this year. Sorry.
From: Mark
Subject Why does this drag on?
Upon hearing Surin's report Harp starts to organize for he and Mund to open the door. Allistair speaks up "Would you mind if I and maybe Salix take a listen? We know some languages that others may not. Maybe we can tell what the thing is." Harp stops his planning and realizes that the mage is correct. "Surin, do what you can to get these two close to the door with out getting them killed." This last is said with a slight grin.
The druid and the mage move the last 50 feet towards the door with the halfling showing them where to step. As they approach the door they also feel cold emanating from the door. Salix approaches and listens. He can hear noise coming from the room. Whatever it is sounds angry but he can not make out the language. Allistair then takes his place and listens. His eyes widen and color drains from his face.
OODM: I will let Derek know what he heard.
From: Derek
Subject Why does this drag on?
Allistair immediately goes stiff as he understands what he is hearing. He slowly but very authoritatively motions Salix and Surin away from the door. He listens for a few moments before he also slowly and carefully backs away from the door. Only after he's at least 30 feet or so from the door does he carefully turn and walk back towards the party. Allistair gulps once and wipes a cold sweat from his forehead before he motions everyone close so that he can speak quietly.
"The creature was unmistakenly speaking draconic. It was muttering to itself about being angry at who or whatever transported it there and that it would kill them and eat it's frozen corpse. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that we are dealing with a White Dragon. I don't know how acute its hearing might be, so might I suggest that we move closer towards the main room while we formulate a plan of attack?"
OOC: Mark, I assume that the following info would be known by Allistair because of his studies of Draconic. Let me know if he's displaying too much OOC knowledge.
Assuming everyone is fine with that and quietly follows Allistair farther away from the door, Allistair continues. "From my studies of the draconic language I learned some knowledge of the draconic races. First, being a White Dragon, it is indisputably and irrevocably evil. Second, like all true dragons its very breath is its most formidable weapon. For White Dragons, this is a blast of pure cold. Depending on how powerful it is, one touch of its blast could easily turn us into solid ice, after which it would eat us at its leisure. Also being a creature akin to cold and ice, and just from feeling how cold the door was, I would not be surprised if the floor and walls in the room were coated with ice, making it all that more difficult to combat it directly."
"Also, from what I heard it speaking, it doesn't seem particularly intelligent. This confirms what I have heard before about White Dragons being the least intelligent of the evil dragons. This is unlikely to be a large advantage though, since it is no less formidable in direct combat, only that it is less capable of strategy, negotiations, etc."
"Considering the situation it is in, as soon as we appear it will most likely consider us to be its captors and will try and kill us, no matter what explanation we try and give it. If it is a relatively younger dragon, between our magical attacks and our warriors efforts, I think we could kill it, though not without some risk. If it happens to be an older dragon though, most if not all of us perishing would be the most likely outcome. I suppose it really depends on how difficult of a test this pocket dimension is supposed to be."
From: Randy
Subject Why does this drag on?
Ranthir voices a suggestion. "Is it possible for us to rig up a rope to open the door from a distance? This might allow us to launch some ranged attacks, I'm thinking the fireballs and lightning storms, before the dragon has a chance to react? Another thought is if we have a way of blocking the Dragons visibility that could give us some advantage. Also, is there any magical way to protect any of us from the cold?"
Ran feels that he is speaking too quickly. A dragon seemed like quite a difficult challenge. Would they really continue to get more difficult?
From: Kevin
Subject Why does this drag on?
IC: Dragon??? Dragon???? What's this?? Dragons were what the hero's of old fought with flaming swords and magic. How were they to beat a dragon, even if, as Allistair said, it was a small one. Small compared to who? An even bigger dragon??
Well, there was no getting around it. They would have to fight it eventually.
"Allistair, is there anything else you know about how to defeat this thing? Anything that can help? I mean, we can prepare for it, right?"