Round 13, patching wounds
Subject Turn
I am going to try and get a turn out this morning.
From: Kevin
Subject Turn
Should be simple - Harp channels the power of his diety and blows up the zombies.
Hey, this DM thing isn't that hard.
Mark (and all the rest of the players in this game), thanks for all your patience this past 2 weeks. I am sorry that this has slowed down the rest of the adventure, but Harp really thought he could sneek off to see his "friend".
From: Karl
Subject Turn
Not as sorry as Harp's gonna be when Salix finds out he jeopardized the whole mission for a booty call.
From: Mark
Subject Round 13
Round 13
Init: Kal, Harp, Zombie1, Zombie2,
Kal relaxes a bit when the cleric falls. Turning to face the undead creature in front of him (Z2), Kal makes a lighting fast blow (AC12, 16+9=25, hit, damage 4). His rapier slides in to the body right where the heart is. Kal beams, knowing that this blow is a killing blow, when he sees the figure continue to move. The pale hand reaches up and pulls the blade from its heart and continues shambling towards him.
Harp, his voice weak from blood loss and the cleric's foul magic, gasps "I told you most weapons are useless. You have to either cut them to pieces or this" and the 1/2 orc takes his sword and holds it up speaking as clearly as he can. His voice grows stronger as he says the invocation "Heironeous, shed your light on these foul beasts of darkness. Send these undead back to the sleep of the grave." (Turn check, 18, up to 6 HD creatures can be turned, 9HD or creatures can be turned). The sword glows brightly in the dim torch light, glowing with the power of the battle lord. The zombies cower from the bright light and start to turn to dust as the holy light burns them to nothing. Seconds later the alley way is dark again. Harp falls to one knee, almost collapsing in the street.
OODM: fight is over. You guys can role play it from here. There are 5 dead thugs and 1 cleric body all over the ground.
From: Kevin
Subject Round 13
Yeah, but Harp and Kal have got something that may help - an evil cleric they can interrogate.
From: Kevin
Subject round 13
Harp stands there, his chest heaving at his recent exertions, the remains of the zombies floating away like the embers of a dying fire. He had been worthy, after all. With a final deep breath, he falls to his knees, his wounds finally getting the better of him. He almost passes out, but is able to keep himself from totally going under. Then he remembers Kal to his side. "Kal, are you all right? How did you survive with all those thugs around you?? (Harp will sacrafice a 2nd level for Cure Moderate). Then Harp sees the body of the cleric just a few feet away. He was still breathing, but he would not last long. Staggering over to the cleric, Harp says to Kal "I think we found who's been kidnapping people here. Maybe he can tell us something about where we are going". With that, Harp kneels by the man and prays for the grace to stabilize the man (sacrafice a 0 level for cure minor wounds). "Kal, help me tie this guy up and lets take him back to the inn."
OOC: Harp will have a tough time adjusting to not beeing as strong as he normally is. He will be really worried what the others will think, but hopes that the prisoner they are bringing will give them information they might need.
From: Mark
Subject Round 13
Who are you healing? You or Kal?
From: Kevin
Subject Round 13
Right now, Kal if he wants it. Harp knows that Kal has been hurt because of what Harp has done. He will also offer some of his healing potions. Harp is concerned about how this sapping of his strength will affect him long term.
Does he know what was done to him? Spellcraft check?? This level of spell is above him, but hopefully not Ragnar.
From: Mark
Subject Round 13
Right now Harp does not know. There might be any number of things that could have done it.
From: Kevin
Subject Round 13
Curses, foiled again.
From: Josh
Subject Round 13
Kal watches as the zombies are destroyed. "I should never have doubted. Clearly such great power would only be granted to a holy man."
Kal shrugs off any need for healing "I could have danced with those ruffians all night without any difficulties. They don't understand the nature of combat, and so they were unable to hit me. Heal yourself, you don't look in good shape." Serious concern shows through his arrogance.
Kal will take out his rope and begin to tie the cleric up. I want to bind his feet together with about a foot of slack rope between them (so he's just able to walk, but not run). Then run the rope up behind his back to his hands, and bind them together closely. The rope coming up his back should be tight, so he's walking uncomfortably the whole time.
"I think we should disguise him. I've got these robes of Heronious, but they may be too conspicious, what do you think?"
After he ties the cleric up he'll cast detect magic and then search through his belongings, carefully.
From: Mark
Subject Round 13
I will see what I can do with the tie rope, but since Kal has no skill points in that he may not do very well. Unless he has been visiting a few of those establishments that would educate him on how to tie someone up. :)
From: Kevin
Subject Round 13
"Lets not get too carried away out here. We don't know if he had others to back him up.
Let's tie him up, put a gag in his mouth, and then we can carry him between us like he is a drunk friend.
OOC: Mark, we will make an effort to tie this guy up so he cannot run and cannot talk. He should be out of it enough that he does not give us too much of a hard time.
From: Mark
Subject Patching wounds
The two warriors stand for a second, surveying the blood strewn alley way. Harp, barely able to keep to his feet, moves over to Kal "You're hurt. I can heal some of your wounds." Kal's response is more aloof then he had intended "I could have danced with those ruffians all night without any difficulties. They don't understand the nature of combat, and so they were unable to hit me. Heal yourself; you don't look in good shape." Harp nods in thanks and quickly chants one of his more powerful healing prayers (CModW, heal 8). A small gash in his leg heals over, but Harp still feels weak.
"Kal, I don't know what he did to me, but I feel as week as a baby. Let's hope it goes away or that someone has a way of ridding me of this. I feel almost useless. Why don't you search the bodies of the thugs and I'll take a look at this cleric." Kal nods and starts looking through the gear. He finds nothing special other than a few basic saps and short swords. He quickly chants his spell to detect magic and sees that the studded leather armor, the chain shirts all glow faintly. The scythe also glows faintly as does a ring on the cleric's hand. Kal reports this to Harp "Do we want to loot the dead?"
Harp, who had been kneeling next to the fallen cleric and inspecting his other belongings, notices that the man has an iron holy symbol with the image of a scythe and a skull on it. He can almost feel the evil coming off if it as he removes it from around the man's neck. The man's teeth have been filed to points and the odor coming from his mouth is fetid. The man moans in pain. Thinking that he might be dying, Harp quickly chants the minor prayer of healing. When he is done he is surprised to see the man's eyes open in astonishment. The man tries to grab for the iron symbol but it is not around his neck. Harp quickly smashes the man with his fist, knocking him out again. The clerics head lolls to one side, a small trickle of blood coming from his mouth.
Harp makes a decision. "Let's tie him up and stuff something in his mouth and get him back to the others. He might be able to tell us something." Kal and Harp do their best to tie the man up enough so that they can walk him back to the Eel. They drag him along like a drunken friend, with Kal doing as much or more than Harp. The man's weight, combined with the weight of his armor, is almost too much for Harp. By the time they get back to the Inn he is almost exhausted. Kal is not much better, his wounds starting to get the better of him. The two stumble into their room at the Eel several hours after they had left.
OODM: The party, except for Ran and Surin are all there.
From: Jason
Subject Patching wounds
Ragnar has difficulty getting to sleep that night knowing that Harp and Kal are out in the dangerous town. At least Harp hadn't sent Kal back, he is relieved to realize. Or perhaps Kal had refused to give way... the elf was clearly disciplined and obedient to his own elders, but Ragnar wasn't quite sure how well that obedience would transfer to the Order.
Finally, the door creaks open and Ragnar sits up immediately. In the pitch darkness he can easily see the new arrivals are their friends, badly wounded. Their entrance wakes others, some of whom can't tell who has arrived in the dark, and Ragnar says quietly, but with relief, "Its Hack and Kal." He quickly gets out of bed to approach them, healing Harp and Kal (CCW for Harp, CMW for Kal... cure spells cure lethal and subdual at the same time, right? If not, CSW on Kal.) Then he looks at the man between them, unsure of whether he should heal him, until he notices the small iron skull. Drawing back from it with a muted orcish curse, he asks "Do you know what that is? Where did he come from?"
From: Kevin
Subject Patching wounds
"I'm not sure, but I think he is a priest of a death god. He and some thugs attacked Kal and me while I was heading to see.....
Anyway, this guy and 6-7 other attacked us. It was hard going for a while. This "priest" animated some of his fallen commrades into zombies right before our eyes. I think he is the one who has been kidnapping people who are out on the street after dark. He is alive, but we knocked him out. We thought we might be able to get some information from him."
Harp wispers to Ragnar "Ragnar, he did *something* to me. I can hardly lift my sword, my armor feels like it weighs a ton. My muscles are acting like they should. What's he done to me?"
When he gets a chance, Harp will say to Kal "I endangered your life, and you save mine. If you had not been there, they would have killed or taken me. I owe you my life. I am in your debt."
If asked, Harp will explain where he had planned on going and why, but will not get to graphic. He will just say he was going to say good bye to someone he had met and try to leave it at that.
As needed, he will sacrafice what prayers he has left to heal Kal first (if he still needs it) and then himself.
From: Derek
Subject Patching wounds
Allistair is a little surprised when Kal and Harp wake him up coming back into the room, and even more surprised when he wakes up enough to see that the person they have between them is definately not an allay. Allistair gets up and goes over to wake up the others. "Get up, but quietly. Kal and Hack are back, and it looks like they have an unwelcome guest with them."
When Allistair sees the scythe and skull symbol recalls that the evil temple they had heard about in the Mayor's estate had the same symbol, he sucks his breath in quickly, and then slowly exhales. "This... is most interesting. I think Salix is going to have a few questions for him. As will the rest of us."
When Salix is awake and alert, Allistair quickly pulls him aside. "We don't want to talk in front of him if possible. Whether we kill him or not, the less he knows about us the better. I could cast Message so that we can whisper to each other without him hearing. I can also cast Detect Thoughts to read his mind. After that... you need to decide how much you are willing to force him to talk. That's a decision that you must make, no matter what Ragnar, or Mund, for that matter, may say."
Allistair then motions Ragnar to join the conversation with him and Salix. "Do either of you have a way to detect if there is any kind of magical trace placed upon him, such as you placed on Hack before he left? Or if someone is scrying on him or doing something similar? If this is a genuine fear, I can make a rope trick we can climb inside, which will make us invisible from scrying and other similar spells while we are in the extradimensional space."
From: Jason
Subject Patching wounds
OOC: Mark, would Ragnar recognize bestow curse from the description Harp gives him, or would he need to make a check, or what? Also, just a note that Ragnar will not sacrifice Discern lies for cures, but rather summon monster IV, because it might come in handy soon.
IC: "Allistair, I don't know of any way to determine if anyone is monitoring his whereabouts. I could attempt to detect magic generally, which I believe would show if he is being constantly monitored in the way I watched over Hack, but that's probably the limit of it. If your magic room could hide us from prying eyes, it might well be worth it."
OOC: I would think he's probably not being monitored, after all, he probably does this almost every night, never has problems, etc. After all, other people have to look out for *him*, not the other way around.
From: Josh
Subject Patching wounds
Kal speaks up when Allistar says this " I cast detect magic soon after we knocked him out. I didnt see anything magical about him, just his items."
From: Karl
Subject Patching wounds
"How in desolation did you--" Salix begins, looking at Harp. "Nevermind. You know the importance of this mission so I'm sure you had good reason."
Salix turns to Allistair. "I doubt he will give up anything willingly, but regardless we cannot allow him to live. You can question him if you think it will yield anything of value, but take his clothes. They may be useful when we enter the mayor's estate, and we don't want them any more bloody than they already are." Salix will instruct Harp and Kal to remove the stranger's clothes and tie him back up securely before reviving him.
OOC - about what time is it? Salix will be worried that this one may be missed if he doesn't return to his temple (or whatever) at dawn and won't want him in the room with them if someone gets a mind to scry for him soon.
From: Josh
Subject Patching wounds
Kal looks back at Harp, surprised and confused "Not yet", he says, and then smiles. "Not yet" he says again, and pats Harp on the back.