OD&D in-character thread

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"I am Pustar the Chaste. I have sworn off the many temptations of the flesh so that I may better serve the divine Theona."

There is a hint of regret in Pustar's voice.
"Is this Theona one of those non-interventionist gods or is she a bit more tangible in her gifts? I'm hoping she granted some divine powers to you"
 
"Is this Theona one of those non-interventionist gods or is she a bit more tangible in her gifts? I'm hoping she granted some divine powers to you"

"As yet I am but one of her humblest servitors but I hope to rise in her favour through deeds of valour and acts of devotion. Although I have no curative powers I can, on occasion, turn aside the foul legions of the unholy. Well, the odd walking skeleton at least... And I always have my trusty pole..."

Pustar begins to tap the floor again as the group moves off along the tunnel.

"Might I ask how it is you find yourselves in this accursed place?"
 
As Pustar, Cosar, Balin, Bayon, and Lürgen converse, they begin to hear, gently at first and then louder as they get closer, footfalls from a group proceeding from down the corridor whence Cosar, Balin, Bayon, and Lürgen came. Amidst the tread of many feet, you also hear guttural, though hushed, voices speaking a harsh tongue.

"Pomnite! YA reshayu, kto my yedim v pervuyu ochered'," says one voice.

"My dolzhny posolit' ikh myaso i sekonomit' na potom," answers another.
 
OOC: So does Boyan understand that?
 
"Let's get the hell out of here! On down this corridor now!"

Cosar waits for the others to run, he'll hold back until they've legged it and take up the rear guard.
 
Not sure about the rules, and my book isn't easily accessible via Drivethru. That's why I'm asking.

Looks like he does not speak anything but Common.
 
is the floor dry enough that oil spread on it would likely light?
 
Pustar drops his pole and readies his sling, positioning himself so that the others are between him and whatever is coming down the corridor.
 
Once the others are behind Cosar will begin walking down the corridor constantly glancing back.
 
Sounds like Pustar is in the lead and Cosar is behind him? What is the marching order? You can treat Lürgen as a henchman.
 
"We should hammer the first door we find. I've got spikes that would prevent it from opening...that should slow them down", Boyan says.
 
[OOC: How come I've ended up "in the lead"? - I'm sure that was not my intention :tongue: I should like to point out that I've already tested this bit of corridor for traps.]
 
[OOC: How come I've ended up "in the lead"? - I'm sure that was not my intention :tongue: I should like to point out that I've already tested this bit of corridor for traps.]
Pustar drops his pole and readies his sling, positioning himself so that the others are between him and whatever is coming down the corridor.
If the others are between you and whatever's coming, that puts you in front as you go the opposite direction, unless one of the others determines he wants to get ahead of you.
 
I'm assuming everyone agrees to head the same direction...I could still use a marching order if you decide to stay in this area:

As you proceed down the corridor, you come to a section with a higher ceiling--maybe twenty feet where before it was ten--from which dangle ancient ornate chandeliers and where there are long-since-burned-out torches in sconces on the walls. The corridor comes to an end in a circular chamber. Looming immediately before you is a massive wooden double-door about fifteen feet high and ten feet across. Large metal handles show signs of age and rust. There are additional doors to the left and to the right, about forty feet each direction from the center of the circular chamber. Rotting tapestries adorn the walls: the artwork depicts human sacrifice, feathered serpents, humans supplicant to creatures with the bodies of men and women but the heads of beasts, and a burning tower. There is tattered embroidered text in a language you don't comprehend. The chamber is dark and cold, and feels damp. There is a stench of something rotting. You hear a faint dripping, possibly from the ceiling. Somewhere behind you, you hear the tramping of your pursuers' feet upon the stone floot and the occasional scrape and clang of metal on metal. The volume increases as they approach.
 
Cosar eyes the tapestries briefly.

"Well that's not worrying.

Sounds like they aren't far behind us. Should we head into one of these side rooms first? I might be able to hold the door with my magics and we can wait until the other crowd are gone. Or should we just push on?"

OOC: I'd say for marching order it's Cosar, Boyan, Lürgen, Balin, Pustar unless others disagree. Cosar at the back
 
Balin nods and says " Side room and hold the door" while preparing to make an improvised grenade of his oil flask.
 
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"Works for me", Boyan puffs. He still doesn't feel fully recovered.

OOC: I'd say it's Cosar, Lürgen, Boyan, Balin, Pustar.
 
"Er, yes, let us seek sanctuary in an adjacent room. Although I pray to Theona that we do not find ourselves out of the proverbial cooking pot and arses-deep in the fire..."
 
You are the stickmen in the heavily detailed diagram below. Which door shall you try?
Locale.jpg
 
Cosar heads to try the door on the group's left.
 
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Cosar heads to try the door on the groups left.
It has a grip-handle and you feel no resistance if you try to push it open...

Meanwhile the tramping of feet grows louder in the corridor behind you.
 
Balin follows while ready to lob a grenade at the entryway if our pursuers show their faces.

OOC let me know if the floor starts to seem dry.
 
Boyan does his best to keep behind Cosar, both to protect him as much as possible, and to be able to quickly get in any room they might find.

OOC: Tonight, I met the guy who "volunteered" his name for Boyan (without knowing about it). He held pads for me, and I for him. I think we grappled, too.
We were studying fencing.
 
Balin follows while ready to lob a grenade at the entryway if our pursuers show their faces.

OOC let me know if the floor starts to seem dry.
Boyan does his best to keep behind Cosar, both to protect him as much as possible, and to be able to quickly get in any room they might find.
The floor is still nice and wet from the earlier flooding. Water must have flowed in this direction, as Balin can detect a slight downward grade, probably not intended by the builders but sufficient for a dwarf to observe.

Is everyone going in through the unlocked door? I'll update more once we hear from Séadna Séadna and dokel dokel.
 
(Assuming Cosar has pushed the door open.) Pustar sticks his head through the doorway to see if he can make out any features of the room on the other side.
 
It has a grip-handle and you feel no resistance if you try to push it open...

Meanwhile the tramping of feet grows louder in the corridor behind you.
Cosar pushes the door open, but enters slowly while looking around.
 
Upon entering through the door, you find yourselves in what appears to be a large domed reliquary. The ceiling is approximately thirty feet overhead and there are small windows arranged in a circle at regular intervals around the base of the dome, allowing natural light from outside, which, combined with highly polished metal high up on the walls, gently illuminates the room. One of the windows has broken glass in it, while the others are intact.

The chamber is about sixty feet across, with shelves evenly spaced as in a library. However, in addition to books and other papers there are also bones under glass, scraps of clothing mounted on ornate metal, a bejeweled dagger, small figurines, a golden candelabra, rolled-up tapestries, oil paintings, an eyeball floating in viscous-looking liquid in a jar, wax votive candles, stone tablets etched with some prayer or commandment in a lost language, dried feces under a glass lid in a hinged box, and all manner of items common and strange alike, presumably of some religious significance. Due to the intervening shelves, you cannot see the far side of the room or judge its size, but it seems to have been a storehouse for an ancient religion long since forgotten.

One shelf near the right wall has been knocked over and splintered, obviously a recent occurrence as it lacks the layer of dust that coats everything else you can see. Groaning near the base of the collapsed shelf you see a redheaded hobbit who you surmise fell--or was tossed or possibly jumped--through one of the windows high above. Pieces of broken glass are scattered about. It's a miracle she isn't dead.

The last of you to enter the room see the van of a group of gnolls trudging down the corridor towards the circular chamber you just left.
 
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Balin quickly and quietly shuts the door and does his best to barricade it.

"Get up and fight us or help us small one!" He whispers at the halfling.
 
Seri shakes the grogginess out of her head, promptly give a rude, twin fingered gesture to a window high above.

Instinctively knowing when it is wise to keep her trap shut (her father was a mean S.O.B.), she nods at the dwarf and gets up.

I hope it's a bunch of fat-ass rats. I wanna kill something. she thinks to herself.
 
Seri stands up and readies her bow and draws an arrow. She waits to see what these folks do next.

Her inner monologue is gloomy: Is this where I die? Oh well, let's just hope that it will be painless. At least I'll soon see my brothers and sisters again.
 
Pustar surveys the room, strangely fascinated by the odd assortment of items that adorn the many shelves. He nods absent-mindedly at the halfling, seeming to take it for granted that yet another poor soul would have fallen afoul of this dreadful place.

Snapping out of his reverie, he suddenly remembers that the party is being pursued.

"Perhaps, between us, we could move one of these bookcases to block the door?" he suggests.

[Just a suggestion. Dunno if it's feasible. Not sure how big the shelves are but if they're about the size of big wooden library shelves it might be doable :smile:]
 
"Get to it! Let me know if you need help." Balin whispers while trying to spike the doors shut
 
Seri puts away her bow and sides up with Pustar in trying to move the bookcase.
 
Cosar helps shove the bookcase and nods at the Hobbit. Time for introductions later.

He brings the incantations for sealing the door to mind, but best to keep magic for when you need it.
 
Balin quickly and quietly shuts the door and does his best to barricade it.

"Get up and fight us or help us small one!" He whispers at the halfling.
Pustar surveys the room, strangely fascinated by the odd assortment of items that adorn the many shelves. He nods absent-mindedly at the halfling, seeming to take it for granted that yet another poor soul would have fallen afoul of this dreadful place.

Snapping out of his reverie, he suddenly remembers that the party is being pursued.

"Perhaps, between us, we could move one of these bookcases to block the door?" he suggests.

[Just a suggestion. Dunno if it's feasible. Not sure how big the shelves are but if they're about the size of big wooden library shelves it might be doable :smile:]
They are large, sturdy shelves such as one might find in an old library or archive.
"Get to it! Let me know if you need help." Balin whispers while trying to spike the doors shut
Seri puts away her bow and sides up with Pustar in trying to move the bookcase.
Cosar helps shove the bookcase and nods at the Hobbit. Time for introductions later.

He brings the incantations for sealing the door to mind, but best to keep magic for when you need it.
As Balin spikes the door, Cosar, Pustar, and Seri push a shelf across the base of the doorway, successfully damaging or destroying numerous aged relics and artifacts in the process. A glass globe hits the floor and cracks, releasing a strange blue gas as it rolls away down an aisle. Almost immediately thereafter, you hear loud banging and thumping against the exterior of the door. It seems the gnolls are requesting access in a nonverbal manner, and are disinclined to take no for an answer. A guttural voice is heard saying in Common, "I'll bet that small one would fry up nicely with tomato, basil, garlic, and onion!" Other deep voices laugh heartily as the pounding changes to hacking and you hear chunks of wood start to splinter.
 
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Balin whispers "Make a trap of the other shelves. Set them up to fall trapping them in and another set keeping them from moving forward. We can light them.
That or we just wall up the door with shelves while searching for useful items"
 
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