Kestrel
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Posts: 319
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Post by Kestrel on May 10, 2019 17:11:18 GMT
The metallic clink of Juliette's bolt clipping and bouncing off stone was audible as it careened down the smaller passageway but, with a dull thump, it was a safe bet that it had found only solid rock as a victim. No other sounds came from the shadows. Whatever the...thing was that both Crucible and Juliette had encountered at the crossing was either remaining safe within or had fled farther down it.
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Post by Juliette on May 10, 2019 20:58:55 GMT
Juliette shook her head, and reached into her pack. From there, she produced a flask of oil.
"More like this." She said, uncapping the flask, and letting some of the oil spill out as she placed it on the floor.
She then skidded the flask along the ground, pushing it down the small corridor. A little flint and steel, and in theory, they'd soon have a merry trail of fire before a burning patch of rock to illuminate the path before them.
(Let me know what rolls you want for this)
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on May 12, 2019 21:32:50 GMT
(No checks necessary! It’s a really neat idea.)
The uncapped flask audibly skidded down the passageway from Juliette’s toss and, with a clink and a tumble, seemed to slip downward. The fire from the flint and steel soon followed as the oil sizzled and sparked to life. The initial length of the crawlspace became illuminated, revealing a straight passage that ended with a downward slant into darkness. The bottle of oil had disappeared down this and the end to the fire trail was not visible. The bolt Juliette had fired first protruded out from cracked stone at the top of the slant.
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Post by 3personal5me on May 13, 2019 0:27:03 GMT
Crucible gazed into the crawlspace. He was torn. On the one hand, the big hall could be a trap. On the other hand, perhaps they were being lured into the small tunnel as a trap, under the pretense that the hall only seemed a trap.
He had no idea. So he went with the other obvious pros and cons.
"Well if we want to go in, we have to wait for the flame to die down. And I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of being in a tunnel that tight when that... Thing ambushes us". He made a show of trying to swing his mace with his arms tucked to his chest. "I say we take advantage of the fire, and press on while we know he can't flank us from the tunnel".
He had a pretty strong feeling Juliette wasn't the kind to "take orders". She seemed more of the "stay out of my way" type. But surely being literally built for war meant something in regards to tactical decisions.
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Post by Juliette on May 13, 2019 16:37:59 GMT
Juliette’s anger was palpable as she was met with the evidence of her failure. She hadn’t, truthfully, expected to see the creature pinned by its skull to the wall or similar, but it would have been a nice extra.
“I agree.” She said, as she shouldered the enormous crossbow again, and cracked her neck. “Let’s carry on. As a forewarning, if I need to switch weapons, it may be a moment.”
Drawing both her blades in quick succession was a frustration, but it was hard to manoeuvre in such confined quarters. Until things opened up again, it only made sense that she utilise her ranged weapon and he take the lead, as much as it might make her grind her teeth.
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Post by 3personal5me on May 13, 2019 19:17:02 GMT
"I'm well aware of your talents at this point". His shield, his spotlight, swung around to light the new hall. "When you want to use them, just say the world and I'll make it happen". He advanced down the hall, have mace ready to strike.
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on May 17, 2019 9:36:02 GMT
As the party advanced down the southern hallway, still following the trail of somewhat moist blood, they would descend a short set of steps and then find themselves entering a wide and vast round chamber at its very end. Large enough that its extent could not be illuminated by Crucible’s shield light. Thick pillars held up a cracked and crumbling vaulted ceiling, while a steep slope of stone brick rose around the circumference of the chamber. The slope was dotted here and there by entrances to smaller passages – drainlike, dark, and similar to the one the gnome-like creature had fled down earlier.
There was no sign of the creature itself, however.
Instead, just barely visible among the shadows and at the end of the blood trail, lay a still pool of fetid green water. At its center rose a stone platform. The platform lay only a few inches above the water and, sprawled across its length, was the outline of a corpse surrounded by a wide pool of blood. At the very, very edge of Crucible’s light, beyond the corpse, something swayed back and forth in the darkness. Only the sound of a chain creaking and whining could be heard in the otherwise still and quiet chamber.
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Post by Juliette on May 17, 2019 20:57:21 GMT
Juliette shouldered her crossbow, and drew her blades.
"This has the feel of the profane." She muttered, "Perhaps we are close to the heart of it."
She didn't need to tell Crucible to be on his guard, she was sure - her attention was still primarily focused on their back and sides as they approached. She was sure that the unclean and unworthy foe were more likely to strike from secrecy than in open and honorable combat.
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Post by 3personal5me on May 17, 2019 22:09:55 GMT
The warforged nodded. The room was almost certainly a trap or ambush. On the other hand, it may not. It didn't really matter to him. He was going to march in and face it head on. He felt the divine power within him, surging and ready to get out.
"I hope this is the last of it".
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on May 20, 2019 17:40:53 GMT
As Crucible and Juliette advanced, the light of the warforged’s shield fell upon the stone island at the center of the chamber. The fetid green water dully shone back. Close by was the body. It was that of a human man, his pale gaunt face lined with the creases of middle age and his short red hair matted with dust and cobwebs, and a wealthy one at that: what was left of his tattered clothes suggested a long green and gold coat edged with bear fur, high black leather boots that shined even in the shadows, and a large ruby ring glittered on one outstretched hand. His neck was cut, though, and his chest jagged and torn open by some crude instrument. Which one caused his death was hard to make out as he lay within the thick pool of dried blood.
Beyond the corpse was another human man. Younger, with slick brown hair tied in a ponytail, and a dark leather coat with fur lined boots and gloves, this one was, even from a distance, visibly alive. His skin was still pink with life, though bruised and marked by cuts and scrapes, and, though his eyes were also closed, his mouth moved with inaudible gasps. A long, thick chain extended down from somewhere above the chamber and the man’s body was suspended a few feet off the ground by a hook pulled through the back of his coat.
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Post by Juliette on May 20, 2019 18:48:14 GMT
There was no noise from Juliette as she saw the man dangling from the hook. No recognition of the pain that the poor civilian was suffering. No shock or horror in her.
Instead, she narrowed her gaze, and turned it to the darkened shadows of the room.
“This profane place disgusts me.” She said, lowly, to Crucible. “The monsters responsible for this are too cowardly to show their faces to us. Recover the civilian. When they make themselves known, I will be ready to cut them down afore they reach you.”
She smelled a trap, here. And whilst she was confident in the blessings of her Mistress to devour and consume any disease that might wait in the water, she was equally confident that she could do little for a man in such a precarious state; she was an instrument of death, not of salvation. Better to let the cleric play his part.
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Post by 3personal5me on May 21, 2019 20:32:23 GMT
Medicine Check: O61qO|4L1d20+31d20+3
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Post by 3personal5me on May 30, 2019 21:32:27 GMT
The cavernous room was filled with the echoes of his heavy footsteps as he drew closer to the citizen. He slipped his mace into his belt again, and gently lifted the man from the hook. He lay him down gently, inspecting him for any injuries. "I can carry him, though I can't fight at the same time". He was certain that she wouldn't argue with killing more undead in his place, but she deserved warning regardless.
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Jun 20, 2019 22:19:02 GMT
Crucible: You study the injured man’s condition carefully, gleaning much through the well-trained eyes of a cleric and calling upon your old experience in battlefield triage. Superficially, the man appears fine. Aside from the few scrapes and bruises you had already spotted, scabbed over and dull, the man’s skin is free of any kind of major wound, sickness, or otherwise oddity – the only exception being a crust of dried blood along and down the cuff of his right sleeve. What he suffers more so from is obvious signs of dehydration and starvation. His ribs poking through his undershirt, his skin paler than normal, and his lips chapped to the point of cracking, it seems as if the man had been suspended there for at least a week.
Otherwise, you observed some rash formation around the man’s fingers and palms and, as he half-consciously looks you over, you notice that the whites of his eyes are tinted yellow. The significance of this, though, if any, is not immediately apparent.
Mysterious Check 1: EQoc6XJd1d20+1
Mysterious Check 2: 1d20+0
Juliette (Passive Perception 10): As you stand guard, you notice movement just to your left. Crouching within the shadows of the closest drainlike passage is the creature with which you engaged earlier at the makeshift bridge, its bright, blood red cap almost illuminated against the backdrop of shadows, and its sinister sickle still gleaming faintly in the far light of your companion’s shield. However, you also notice…another presence. Dotting more of the drainlike passageways that are spread around the chamber are a series of red eyes, small but bright, which have gathered to stare intently at the two of you. With the occasional flash of tiny, white incisors and the lone squeak echoing in the otherwise silent chamber, it’s not hard to tell what they are: rats. A lot of them, too.
Then, the chamber erupts into a chorus of squeaks, howls, and the banging of metal shoes against stone.
Initiative Roll (Mystery Foe): 1d20+1
Initiative Roll (Giant Rat): 1d20+2
Initiative Roll (Rat Swarms): 1d20
Juliette and 3personal5me , please roll initiative!
1d20+1·1d20+0·1d20+1·1d20+2·1d20
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Post by 3personal5me on Jun 21, 2019 0:04:04 GMT
CdlgLlOI1d201d20
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