OD&D in-character thread

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"A very practical hands form of necromancy was worked here" he says aloud to Balin.

He looks for exits, though steps around slowly as he does so being fearful of a jealous ancient sorcerer leaving spells behind to protect his works.
Cosar feels a sudden chill as he moves past the shelves. At the far end of the room, off to the left so it doesn't align with the entry door, he finds what looks to be a rope-and-pulley dumbwaiter about three feet high by three feet wide. The door to the dumbwaiter is closed so he cannot at present determine the depth of the compartment.
 
"Eh if you see any books on rituals be sure to grab them. Some daft mage will probably wet himself for the chance to read them." Balin says to Cosar.
 
"Eh if you see any books on rituals be sure to grab them. Some daft mage will probably wet himself for the chance to read them." Balin says to Cosar.
Cosar has a look around for tomes that seem to concern magic, but will also keep an eye out for purely medical texts.

Cosar feels a sudden chill as he moves past the shelves. At the far end of the room, off to the left so it doesn't align with the entry door, he finds what looks to be a rope-and-pulley dumbwaiter about three feet high by three feet wide. The door to the dumbwaiter is closed so he cannot at present determine the depth of the compartment.
Cosar walks up to open the dumbwaiter door. Before he does he has a look for any hexes or wards on the ground and then stands to one side of the door and opens it quickly.
 
Cosar has a look around for tomes that seem to concern magic, but will also keep an eye out for purely medical texts.
Cosar finds a handful of dusty rolled-up scrolls tucked behind a row if flasks and dropper bottles. He also find an ink-smeared parchment palimpsest: it appears some ancient verse in a lost tongue has been overwritten with a more modern prose translation with illustrations of a dead man being resurrected.
Cosar walks up to open the dumbwaiter door. Before he does he has a look for any hexes or wards on the ground and then stands to one side of the door and opens it quickly.
The door creaks on rusty hinges as Cosar opens it to reveal a dusty, half-empty wine bottle, a dusty golden goblet, and a dusty silver plate covered with the gnawed bones of some sort of poultry. It appears someone's last meal was either sent up, or its remains were being sent down.
 
Balin observes Cosar and asks "Should we try sending me or a gnome up?"
 
You hear a sharp scraping sound, metal on stone, and turn to see Mürgen and Lürgen dragging Boyan to the doorway. The gnomes are drenched with sweat and breathing hard from overexertion. Dragging an armored man through the corridor cannot have been easy for two small gnomes.

"Arschlöcher!" pants Mürgen in his native tongue, clearly exasperated. "He's your friend and you can't even be bothered to help!"

"Don't forget we get half of whatever you've found in here!" says Lürgen.

"We should force-feed one of these potions to Boyan," Mürgen. "Looks like medicine and he's half-dead anyway, so what does he have to lose?"

"Besides, he's in no position to object," adds Lürgen with a grin.
 
Balin observes Cosar and asks "Should we try sending me or a gnome up?"
Cosar leans in and whispers to Balin.

"Let's try to convince one of the gnomes"

You hear a sharp scraping sound, metal on stone, and turn to see Mürgen and Lürgen dragging Boyan to the doorway. The gnomes are drenched with sweat and breathing hard from overexertion. Dragging an armored man through the corridor cannot have been easy for two small gnomes.

"Arschlöcher!" pants Mürgen in his native tongue, clearly exasperated. "He's your friend and you can't even be bothered to help!"

"Don't forget we get half of whatever you've found in here!" says Lürgen.

"We should force-feed one of these potions to Boyan," Mürgen. "Looks like medicine and he's half-dead anyway, so what does he have to lose?"

"Besides, he's in no position to object," adds Lürgen with a grin.
"That might not be a bad idea. First however there is this little dumbwaiter here. Leads up to the main chamber of the mage who owned this laboratory at a guess. I can't fit into the thing...pity as I'd love to ramsack his office. Would you head up? Any rare gems he'd keep up there for telescrying..." Cosar says pulling out a piece of jargon to make his nonsense sound plausible "...are yours, just let me know what the room looks like and if it contains magic looking oddities"

Cosar then settles into a more detailed read of the parchment's modern annotations to see how difficult the resurrection procedure would be to perform.
 
Cosar leans in and whispers to Balin.

"Let's try to convince one of the gnomes"


"That might not be a bad idea. First however there is this little dumbwaiter here. Leads up to the main chamber of the mage who owned this laboratory at a guess. I can't fit into the thing...pity as I'd love to ramsack his office. Would you head up? Any rare gems he'd keep up there for telescrying..." Cosar says pulling out a piece of jargon to make his nonsense sound plausible "...are yours, just let me know what the room looks like and if it contains magic looking oddities"

Cosar then settles into a more detailed read of the parchment's modern annotations to see how difficult the resurrection procedure would be to perform.
Boyan sleeps and dreams of beating on an armoured man with a mace. The man's helmet clings and clangs until it caves in, and the noise stops...
Which happens roughly when the gnomes stop dragging him.
 
Cosar leans in and whispers to Balin.

"Let's try to convince one of the gnomes"


"That might not be a bad idea. First however there is this little dumbwaiter here. Leads up to the main chamber of the mage who owned this laboratory at a guess. I can't fit into the thing...pity as I'd love to ramsack his office. Would you head up? Any rare gems he'd keep up there for telescrying..." Cosar says pulling out a piece of jargon to make his nonsense sound plausible "...are yours, just let me know what the room looks like and if it contains magic looking oddities"
"Gems?" repeats Mürgen.

"You two should look for valuables here while we go up to secure the gems," says Lürgen.

"Yes," agrees Mürgen, rubbing his hands together, "and remember we get half of anything you find!"
Cosar then settles into a more detailed read of the parchment's modern annotations to see how difficult the resurrection procedure would be to perform.
Cosar's understanding is that he'll need the still-beating heart of a minotaur, the stinger of a giant wasp, a witch's fresh vomit, and a hundred pounds of melted gold, all of which must be carefully mixed into an elixir that the deceased must imbibe, simultaneous with a priest reciting a sacred text and sacrificing, with a silver dagger, a virgin elf maiden to the ancestors of the deceased.
 
Balin replies to Murgen "And we get half of what YOU find as well."
 
Cosar's understanding is that he'll need the still-beating heart of a minotaur, the stinger of a giant wasp, a witch's fresh vomit, and a hundred pounds of melted gold, all of which must be carefully mixed into an elixir that the deceased must imbibe, simultaneous with a priest reciting a sacred text and sacrificing, with a silver dagger, a virgin elf maiden to the ancestors of the deceased.
"Well we aren't going to be able to perform this anytime soon"

He heads over to Boyan while he waits for the gnomes.

"Sorry I can't heal you, wrong kind of magic. Hopefully we can drag you out of here"
 
Mürgen climbs into the dumbwaiter and signals Lürgen to operate the rope and pulley. The dumbwaiter ascends with a noisy creaking and rattling, leaving an empty shaft, going up and down as well, where it once was. After a minute or so it comes to a stop and you hear the faint noise of the rusty hinges and the clattering of plates, followed by a sudden yell and a distant thump. It sounds like something slams into the dumbwaiter as you hear it shake and clank, and then you hear a scream that cuts off almost before it begins. A harsh voice calls down the dumbwaiter shaft in a barking, doglike language: "Tam vas bol'she? U nas yest' tvoy razvedchik! Podoydi i voz'mi yego! Vy vse priglasheny na uzhin!"
 
Cosar looks at Balin.

"I take it you didn't understand that will we shout back? Dumbwaiter..." he then whispers so Lürgen cannot here "...I wonder was he complaining about having a gnome dinner?"
 
Balin whispers "I have a sneaky suspicion our division of treasure is going to be a little easier than before. They know where we are should we set a trap?"
 
The harsh voice calls out in a taunting tone, "My znayem, chto ty tam vnizu! My mozhem chuvstvovat' tvoy strakh!" Then several voices cackle like hyenas.
 
"Balin what do you say we leave this for now, I imagine they outnumber us. Let's continue down the corridor. Hopefully the water doesn't get too deep"
 
A gravelly voice echoes down the dumbwaiter, this time switching to the Common tongue, but still taunting: "Cat got your tongue? Do our playmates not speak gnoll? Wait where you are, little friends, and we'll come down for fun and games! One of our favorites is 'gnoll got your tongue'! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
 
"Balin, we might be screwed here. I'll keep watch out the door. If there is only a few of them coming then I'll try to subdue them with my magic and we can fight off the one or two left. If there are too many I'll retreat back in here and seal the door with a ward"
 
Mürgen climbs into the dumbwaiter and signals Lürgen to operate the rope and pulley. The dumbwaiter ascends with a noisy creaking and rattling, leaving an empty shaft, going up and down as well, where it once was. After a minute or so it comes to a stop and you hear the faint noise of the rusty hinges and the clattering of plates, followed by a sudden yell and a distant thump. It sounds like something slams into the dumbwaiter as you hear it shake and clank, and then you hear a scream that cuts off almost before it begins. A harsh voice calls down the dumbwaiter shaft in a barking, doglike language: "Tam vas bol'she? U nas yest' tvoy razvedchik! Podoydi i voz'mi yego! Vy vse priglasheny na uzhin!"
OOC: I must warn you that I do understand this without a translator. I guess I'll have to have Boyan studying Gnoll, if he survives!
 
"Balin, we might be screwed here. I'll keep watch out the door. If there is only a few of them coming then I'll try to subdue them with my magic and we can fight off the one or two left. If there are too many I'll retreat back in here and seal the door with a ward"
"I doubt they fit down. It seems unlikely they know how we got to this location. However caution would be prudent. So stay or go? Which seems safer to you?" He whispers back to Cosar.
 
"I doubt they fit down. It seems unlikely they know how we got to this location. However caution would be prudent. So stay or go? Which seems safer to you?" He whispers back to Cosar.
"Alright let's head down that corridor and quick. I'll carry Boyan, might be hard for the gnome given the level of water out there"
 
"Sounds like a plan." Balin starts to pick up Boyan and follow Cosar.
 
OOC:
Séadna Séadna and Bunch Bunch, it appears AsenRG AsenRG has just confessed to being a gnoll...or at least he associates with gnolls as he is conversant with the gnoll language.
изменник!
No, no, you've got it wrong. I'm Bulgarian, and this is quite obviously Russian:smile:!
But I've studied Russian, and it is close to Bulgarian:wink:.
BTW, I've always used German for Gnoll. No particular reason, of course...

Admittedly, that was an old game. Today I'd probably use Japanese instead, unless I'm using it for Elven:devil:!
(Though me running a setting where racial languages exist might take another decade).

Он из-за железного занавеса. Как вы думаете, где его верность?
Old info, comrade Dumarest Dumarest :tongue:!
We're in NATO and EU now, and feeling quite well there, thank you:grin:!
 
"Alright let's head down that corridor and quick. I'll carry Boyan, might be hard for the gnome given the level of water out there"
"Sounds like a plan." Balin starts to pick up Boyan and follow Cosar.
Lürgen follows just behind Cosar and Balin. "We can't just leave Mürgen behind!" he protests.

As you proceed down the corridor you find that it takes a slight bend to the left and as you round the bend you see, coming the opposite way, a man of average height with bulging eyes and an underbite. He has big ears and hunched shoulders. He's so homely that your first impression is that he may be some kind of undead creature.

Pustar the Chaste was sent by his order, along with several other acolytes of Theona, to purify an ancient, weathered shrine to the immoral Nabûkudurri of Sinmuballit. Your task was to destroy any holy symbols and graven idols you found there, replacing them with tokens of Theona's greatness. Unfortunately Pustar and his fellows set off several traps in their enthusiasm. All the other acolytes were killed by spikes or poisoned darts. Pustar, the lucky one, found himself slipping down a lubricated, spiraling slide into darkness and hit bottom with a hard impact, knocking him out. When he awoke, he found himself in a strange corridor about ten feet across and ten feet tall. Now you see a wizard, a dwarf dragging some sort of armored warrior, and a gnome coming towards you in the opposite direction.
 
Pustar continues to make his way cautiously along the corridor, barely taking notice of the newcomers. He shuffles forward, tapping the floor ahead of him with his ten foot pole, muttering to himself, "Mustn't set off any more traps... mustn't set off any more traps..."
 
"He's carrying a ten foot pole. I mean if you have one of those you must have everything you need to adventure including a towel!" Balin says to Cosar. "I think we should invite him to join us."
 
"Right" Cosar says back to Balin.

Cosar speaks loudly, though not quite shouting.

"You with the pole! Hello!"
 
Pustar looks up with a start. He eyes the group ahead of him in the tunnel with suspicion.

"Be ye foul servitors of Nabûkudurri? If so I shall smite thee down!" He waves his pole around menacingly.
 
"Wow, no no we never heard of the guy until coming across this tomb..." Cosar says gesturing for Pustar to lower the pole "...who are you? You know the history of this place?"
 
You have only vague information: your religion doesn't like the mere existence of a temple or catacomb that predates your own faith and culture. The hieroglyphs and engravings are unintelligible to you. All you know is it's supposed to be wicked, unholy, and evil, although there are rumors of vast riches hidden within and many have died trying to obtain the unknown treasure.
 
"Wow, no no we never heard of the guy until coming across this tomb..." Cosar says gesturing for Pustar to lower the pole "...who are you? You know the history of this place?"

Pustar cautiously lowers his pole.

"I am but a humble servant of The Wise Mother," he says, "I know little of this wicked place other than that it is very ancient and very, er, wicked. Oh, and I believe there was some mention of vast, unimaginable riches."
 
Pustar cautiously lowers his pole.

"I am but a humble servant of The Wise Mother," he says, "I know little of this wicked place other than that it is very ancient and very, er, wicked. Oh, and I believe there was some mention of vast, unimaginable riches."
"Well you ain't getting out this way, come with us and let's see if we can find a way out. How long have you been down here?"
 
"Well you ain't getting out this way, come with us and let's see if we can find a way out. How long have you been down here?"

"Er, well I am not really sure. I was benumbed for a time and then, after that, I have been wandering lost in these tunnels. It would be good to be free of this vile place. So, yes, let us join together."
 
Boyan sleeps and dreams. In his mind's eye, he sees outwitting a dragon, and getting access to all the gold he was guarding...
And then it turned out to be Fools' Gold.
If he could groan in his sleep, he would have!
 
While the other coverse, Lürgen sneakily produces a corked phial containing a strange green fluid. Uncorking the phial, he holds it to Boyan's mouth. It smells like someone ate feces and then vomited it up. "Drink up," whispers the gnome. "This can't make you any worse and just might help you. And if my hunch is right, you'll also become my loyal slave! Ha ha ha ha!"

He forces the liquid down Boyan's throat. Your eyes flutter open and you feel ambulatory, if not altogether well.

Boyan is no longer paralyzed but he feels weak.

Cosar, Balin, and Pustar hear a quiet sniggering from Lürgen behind them and see Boyan appearing to regain consciousness.
 
Boyan moves cautiously, but doesn't yet make a motion to stand up.
 
Cosar turns to Boyan.

"Boyan! Back in the land of the living? Can I help you up?"

He offers his hand.

"Got a new companion. With you back and this fellow here we might not be completely screwed"

He talks to Pustar over his shoulder.

"Servant of the Wise Mother, you got a name?"
 
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