The cells, turn and hallway
Subject: Undead and critical hits
As my brother told me last night while we games, I screwed up big time. There were several critical hits by party members on the wights. However, undead are imune to crits. It would not have mattered in the overall thing, but the battle would have lasted another round or two. Since it was an error in favor of the party, I will let what was written stand. But hopefully I will not make such a mistake again.
I am working on the next turn now.
From: Mark
Subject: Turn
Sorry there will be a delay in getting the turn out. Family has to go to a concert so the eldest son can do a report for school.
From: Mark
Subject: The cells
As soon as the fight is over Kal says "Harp is alone. I will go stand with him." Salix nods, thankful for the elf remembering this need. Harp may have been a good influence on the elf. Salix almost startles when he realizes what he just thought. A ½ orc would be a good influence on an elf. He smiles grimly to himself at the irony. Mund walks over to his brother and almost knocks him off his feet with a slap on the back "You see that? Bam! You take out one of them, and I take out the other three, just like that."
Salix looks at Ragnar hoping the cleric will have some knowledge as to why he feels so drained. The dwarf looks at him with concern. "Those things were wights, undead created through sheer violence and hatred. They hate all life. A person killed by the touch of such a creature becomes one like it under its command. The things very touch can suck the very essence of life from you. I expect that is what happened to you and Ran. I know prayers that can help you both, but I have not asked for such blessings today. So for now, I can not help you, but if we get out of here, I should be able to restore you." Salix and Ran nod , horrified at the fate that might have befallen them.
Salix turns to the door on the south wall. The door is a heavy metal door, similar to what they had seen in the basement of the Mayor's house. Salix tries to open it but finds that it is locked. He says over his shoulder "Can one of you go get Surin, we might need him here?" The ½ elf is surprised when Allistair steps up, a large keyring in his hand "Harp picked this up in the last room. He sent me with it. He thought you might need it." Salix almost slaps his forehead in relief and takes the large set of keys.
Kal enters the room with Harp and finds the ½ orc still peering down the hall through the open door. "Everything ok?" Harp asks. "Fine, we killed the things, or at least killed them again. Some type of undead called wights. Ragnar says that they can suck the life right out of you. But they went down easily enough. You should have seen Mund and that new ax of his. He might be an uncouth bastard, but he can fight." Harp nods "I sent Surin to see if he can rig that pit trap so that we can use it to protect our retreat. It might slow down pursuit a bit if guys in plate have to jump over a deep pit." Kal nods in agreement.
Back in the antechamber Surin sticks his torch in a spot in the wall and spends a minute or so going over the mechanism and the trap itself. Behind a small panel in the wall the halfling finds the locking mechanism. Taking out his kit, he starts to tinker with the gears and pulleys "Let's see, this is what locks it, this is the rope to the counter balance, this is the...." . Two minutes later he has it (Disable Device, DC25, 17+13=30, success). The halfling is almost surprised at how well it worked. When the party pulls the rope he has left out the mechanism will open automatically instead of waiting for someone trip it. It will also lock open so that their pursuers could not close it easily. Just as he is putting his tools away he hears a loud clanking noise coming from the hallway to the east.
Salix takes the keys from the mage "Thanks, this might make it a bit easier. If you want to come with me you can or you could go back and wait with Harp and Kal. I expect this to be ugly. Mund, would you come with me?" He looks at the barbarian, his eye almost pleading. Mund grunts "Sure, got nothing else to do right now and the faster we find this Acer guy the sooner we'll be helpin out the tribes." Salix nods thanks and turns to Ragnar and Ranthir "Would you two stay here and guard us? Or go help Harp and Kal if they call?" Both nod yes and Salix turns back to the door.
The lock on the door is a massive one so the druid takes the largest key on the ring and places it in the lock. The key turns and there is a series of mechanical sounds as bolts and latches are freed. When the noise quiets Salix pulls on the large iron ring and swings the door open and to his right. The light from Mund's torch reveals a 30 foot hallway with six doors on the west wall. In the dim torch light Salix can see that the last door in the hallway is the only one closed.
OODM: Actions? Please let me know if you have a problem with where your character is. If you want him some place else tell me the location. Surin has to be where he is due to his work on the trap. Mund, Salix and Harp all have to be where they are do to what they have said.
From: Josh
Subject: The cells
Kal looks down the hallway, "Any movement?" he whispers.
OOC: Kal will stand at AA10 and wait for anything to happen.
From: Jason
Subject: The cells
Ragnar would want to be up with Salix and Mund, unless Salix asks him to go back with Harp. In fact he'll volunteer to head down the corridor first, without the torch, since he has the best vision for it. If they agree, he would only look in the open doors, and not try to open the closed one.
From: Jason
Subject: Guest bad guy
Wow, I apparently missed like 6 emails while I was writing my previous one and didn't notice them until now. Undergrad at Cornell, now in nuclear engineering at U of Wisconsin. And I'd just like to say that I managed to knock out both the sorceror and the wizard, and the cleric was at 5 hp. One blasted fighter (played by Kevin) just wouldn't die, or even get hit as much as he should have considering he was fighting two hook horrors by himself for three rounds.
Oh, and the baby was delicious.
From: Kevin
Subject: Hallway
OOC: Mark, just so it is clear, Surin heard clanking coming down what was the "rail line" that the group came down originally (the one that had three door - we went in 1 door (the most used) and ignored the other two, right?
From: Mark
Subject: Hallway
Correct.
From: Kevin
Subject: Guest bad guy
OOC If he had decided to fight defensively, they might never have hit him. He has 5 ranks of tumbles, so would have gotten another 3 to his already high A/C.
It was a good fight none the less.
Jason, I was good to see you again. Hope you can make it back this way again in the near future.
From: Kevin
Subject: The cells
"No, nothin yet. That worries me. You want to try and sneak down there and see if you can still hear them? They could have gone somewhere else."
From: Karl
Subject: The cells
Salix looks down the corridor. The single closed door actually encourages him. "That has to be where the Stormfather is being held" he says and starts to head down the hall but the dwarf stops him.
"Let me go. I can check out the open cells first, and I don't even need the torch." Salix is surprised, but glad for the dwarf's level-headedness. No sooner had Salix led the group into an ambush, but he was already about to possibly do it again even before the echoes of the previous battle had died.
"Good thinking," he says to Ragnar. "Be careful".
Salix will let Ragnar check out the open cells, moving down the hall with Mund (Porter willing) only after Ragnar has cleared a cell.