|
|
However, something was not quite right. The whole place reeked of magic. There was definitely at least one spell on the man... illusion magic!
Darian laughed out loud "Ha ha. Nice try!" She had experience with illusions of her own, so she tried to disbelieve the illusion. She focussed on any minor inconsistencies.
{If that doesn't work, she's going to cast Dispel Magic. While the illusion is on, she will not proceed further into the room, for fear of traps.}
The illusion vanished. The man, no longer in chains, was clad in dark flowing robes and wielded a heavy ebony mace. With a snarl, he moved to the attack!
Darian eyed the ebony mace. She didn't want her make-over messed up by this evil bastard. She drew her sword and attacked the priest of evil.
{Darian's going to cut him up with Balisarda. If she gets hurt (a couple of hits), she's going to use Magic Missiles on him. If she really starts to lose the advantage, she'll use her Wand of Paralyzation on 'im. If possible, she wants to get him unconscious rather than kill him (I'm not using shadow damage though). If this works she'll disarm him, bandage him, tie him up (somehow) and interrogate him!}
After the fog, the rain, the exertion, and several days of travel, Darian's makeover had long since faded. Further, getting messy was the least of her worries!
Darian lashed out with her sword. Her first blow was true, but she cringed at the clanking sound it made as it struck. The priest was wearing armour beneath his robes. Still, though a glancing blow, it was enough to disrupt any spells the priest planned on using. The priest swung his mace, but Darian nimbly sidestepped it, at the same time striking on her own part. Unfortunately, this time the blow bounced harmlessly from his shoulder-plate.
Pressing her advantage, Darian again attacked, this time a slash to the evil priest's midsection. The priest made a satisfying bark of pain. However, he was not so wounded that he could not attack in return! The priest caught Darian with a vicious blow of his cudgel! {Darian takes 8 points from the blow} Angry that she had been harmed, Darian caught the priest with a quick strike of her blade.
Now the priest took the initiative, and mumbled a dark prayer to whatever god he followed. He then reached out to touch Darian. Darian tried to avoid it, but her first instinct was to turn it with her armored clothes. The armor did nothing to prevent the searing pain which surged up Darian's arm where the priest touched her.
{Darian loses another 12 hit points via a cause wounds spell.}
Seeing that the battle was no longer simply an opportunity for glory, but a desperate struggle for survival, Darian pulled a wand from her belt, and said "Limh!" A narrow green ray flashed from the wand, and struck the priest! Darian's jaw dropped in dismay as the priest showed no signs of stopping. {Priests have good saves versus paralyzation.}
Trying to regain the advantage, Darian quickly muttered the arcane words to her Magic Bolts spell. Five glowing darts of energy flew out of her fingers and into the priest, who howled in pain! The priest angrily made an attack with is mace in reply, but was foiled by a quick block on Darian's part. {I've decided to pause the battle here to give you a chance to alter your strategy, if need be.}
{Darian wants to continue using the same strategy, but this time using the magic missiles before the wand. And she wants to make a couple attempts to disarm him, if/when she thinks she can do this without letting him get a spell through}.
{The only reason she used the wand before the spell was because she had been damaged that round, and had taken quite a beating.}
The priest pressed the offensive, once again mumbling his spell of pain. Once more the hand reached out, and once more Darian had to fight to stop from screaming in agony. {This time Darian took 4 points from the spell.}
Darian decided that although the priest was still dangerous with his spells, he would be less so without his weapon. Smiling, she saw the mace fly from his hand. Darian tried to force a surrender, but the priest answered with insults. Angered by his insolence, she slashed again, penetrating his armor.
The priest was getting desperate. He was unarmed, and had to end this soon. His desperation gave him haste as he chanted the words to a spell. This time, Darian was prepared, and dodged the deadly touch of the priest. Chanting words of her own, she cast out her Magic Bolts once more. The five magical bolts slammed into the priest's chest, knocking him from his feet. Examining the body, she found that the priest was dead. Damn.
Breathing heavily, she pushed away the body with her foot; as she did so, a pouch he had at his belt spilled out fifteen gold pieces.
As Darian looked around, it dawned on her how evil this place was; she sensed an emanation of evil from the altar, and there were dread wall-paintings showing scenes of unspeakable horror. One in particular grabbed her attention: a black skull surrounded by eerie blue flames, floating in the air above a rocky crevasse, gloating over the terrified ghostly forms of the spirits of the dead.
It was getting late, but there was no shelter to be found outside: she'd have to use this place for shelter. Looking around, she noticed a bulge under a carpet in front of the altar. Moving the carpet, she found a trapdoor!
{Darian wants to drink a healing potion. Then she's going to search the room, behind the paintings, etc (without touching the altar - she doesn't need to take 40 damage right now!). She just can't believe there's nothing in here. Then she'll check for traps on the trap door. If it's okay, she'll open it up. But she doesn't want to head to far down it. She just wants to make certain she can rest here without something sneaking up on her. Then she'll lock (or bar or block) the outside door, and try to catch a quick nap (since you said it's late)}.
Darian looked around the room, looking for anything useful. Avoiding the altar, she found only blank stone walls behind the paintings.
As far as Darian was concerned, a fight without good loot wasn't a good fight. She decided to give the priest a more thorough search. He wore a suit of fine plate mail beneath his robes. Darian considered it for a moment. It clearly wouldn't fit her at this time, and plate armor was extremely bulky to carry around. Moving on, she saw an unholy symbol worn on a chain around his neck. This she avoided like the plague... it gave her the creeps. Finally, she looked at the mace. It appeared to be made of a single piece of ebony: am extremely hard and dense black wood. She also remembered how much it hurt when he hit her with it.
{Darian can take the mace or not. Your choice.}
Finally, she noticed that aside from his spell components, he had a couple of scrolls secreted in his robes. Eagerly, she examined them. They were written in common. One described how to protect oneself from "weak, sympathetic fools", the other how to summon "flame from the depths". Damn, priest scrolls. It was logical, seeing as priests would get no benefit from a mage scroll, but it would be nice. Unfortunately, the opposite was also true: only priests would get anything from a priest scroll.
Darian was wounded. She unstoppered her healing potion and gulped down the thick red liquid.
{Sweet! I rolled 2 sevens and an 8 for how much you regain! Plus three, she regains 25 hit points, which should put her at full.}
Her eyes turned towards the altar itself. It gave off bad vibrations, even to her. It was carved with ornate, if garish figures looking like demons inflicting pain and misery on unfortunate souls. The altar looked to be heavy, but was not attached to the floor. If there was any treasure, it probably had something to do with the ugly thing.
Opening the trapdoor, she saw a steep set of stairs cut into limestome. They looked as though they twisted and turned, and probably went down a long way. Perhaps it would be better to rest up here. Darian dragged the priest's body over the trapdoor. That should keep away any surprises from below. Finding nothing (other than the altar) which could easily block the outside door, she leaned up against it herself. That way, at least she would be quickly roused if someone tried to break in. She settled down to sleep.
Darian's sleep was disturbed by an awful nightmare in which she was standing on a path above a sheer rock crevasse, fighting for her life. Flying around her, striking with its bloodied jaws, was a black skull, its eyes afire with an evil azure glow. She felt with horror its hunger for her soul, as it seemed to draw terrors and fears from within her as if to give them substance and make them real...
She woke up sweating. The sleep was fitful, and she felt tired and cranky. Looking out one of the slit-like windows, she saw that it was early morning, but she could not get back to sleep after this. Damn! She wished there was some way to wake up when you wanted to!
{Darian had to make a save vs. spell when she took her nap, and I rolled a 2. The sleep was not restful... no regained spells.}
Darian took the 15 gold. She opened the trap door and began heading down the stairs. "I'll get the mace on the way out," she thought, rather than carrying it with her.
Using her torch, she descended the steeply cut stone steps to the winding limestone passages below. These twisted and turned, and she seemed to spend hours travelling with only faint sounds of dripping water for company. She had to stop to eat a meal during her travels. {Mark off another day's worth of food.}
At last her travels were rewarded. She turned a corner, and, some fifty yards away, she saw a pair of iron gates, set into limestone walls. She had reached her first goal -- the entrance to the Iron Crypt!
She may have found the entrance to the crypt, but the iron bars were a definite physical obstacle to further progress! She looked at the heavy lock on the gate. It was on the other side. She could reach through the bars to pick it, but the awkward angle would make it tricky. The gate was clearly meant to be opened by someone on the other side.
Darian searches carefully for traps as she approaches the gates. She tries casting a "Reduce" spell on one of the gates.
Examining the gate carefully, she determined that if the gate were forced, a tight wire would break. Said wire entered a hole in the wall. Maybe casting a reduce wasn't such a good idea, at least without disarming the trap first.
Darian carefully pulled out her thief tools. Taking a small, sharp pair of cutters, she held the wire with one hand while she snipped it, keeping away the sudden slack that would normally result. Taking a coin, she carefully wrapped the cord around it to the point where it rested against the wall, keeping the wire taut.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Darian mumbled the words of her reduce spell. Thankfully, one of the gates quickly shrank from an impressive 4 foot by seven foot structure to a much smaller 5 inch by 8 inch plate. Unfortunately, said plate proceeded to quickly topple to the floor. Frantically, Darian dove for it, and breathed a sigh of relief as she caught it just before it hit the ground in what would no doubt be a loud clatter. {Darian had to make a Dex roll by at least 6 to catch it in time. I rolled a six... lucky.}
Darian headed north along a limestone passageway, her elven nightvision slowly adjusting to the dim light provided by stubby growths of luminous mosses and lichens along the walls. There was just enough light to see by, and she was less likely to be spotted if she didn't use her torch. The passageway eventually bent around to the west to stop at a dead end. But the dead end was suspiciously smooth; as she carefully touched it, she realized the 'rock' was really another illusion -- there was a door here!
Darian listened carefully at the door.
Darian put her ear up to the door. If there was any noise she couldn't hear it.
Darian tried to open the door.
{If it's locked, I'll try to pick it. If it opens, and there's nothing attacking me right away, I'll go in. But I want to check for traps as I move}.
The door was not locked. A dirty, cluttered room, crudely furnished and with doors leading in several directions greeted her eyes. But she had no time to take in all the details! There were two orcs here, and they leapt up to attack her.
{In case you're wondering, Darian did not succeed her detect noise check, and these two were not making a huge racket. What does Darian want to do? Please note that there is no time for actions before initiative here.}
Darian draws her sword and attacks. She sneers at them, "Damn you're ugly!"
{She's going to stand just outside the doorway, making it almost impossible for both of the two large orcs to attack her at the same time. If things are going badly for her, she will use her wand.}
"N'kirah tokh!" shouted one of the orcs, in the black tongue that they spoke. Darian cleverly stayed at the door, forcing the orcs to face her one on one. War was like a religion to these foul creatures, and they eagerly came to face her.
As the first one came at her, Darian viciously slashed out with her sword. Her aim was true, as her magical blade sheared through the orc's black and grimy mail armor. The orc cursed unintelligibly, its rank breath entering Darian's nostrils. It made a counterattack, but it was still reeling from Darian's first blow, so it was not hard for her to deflect it. Hoping to end the battle quickly, she lunged at it. The orc had recovered, however, and blocked the blow with its shield.
Not wanting to lose her momentum, Darian slashed at it, only to have her attack foiled again. The orc's parry had left her off balance. Fighting to these creatures was instinctual, and they would pounce on an opening without a second thought. This specimen was no exception. It chopped its axe into Darian's exposed flank, causing Darian to shout in pain as hot red blood flowed from the wound. {It hit her with a nasty critical, and I rolled an 8 and a 7. This, with its axe specialization, translates to 17 points of hurting.} Burning with rage and pain, Darian struck out again, and drew blood.
The two combatants traded blows, each deflecting the other's attack. The orc swung its weapon low. Darian anticipated it, and reversed the block to strike it once more. The tip of her weapon pierced the orc's flesh just below its ribcage, and caused it to go limp.
Unfortunately, the orc's companion took this as an opportunity to strike! Knowing orcs and their 'anything goes' approach to combat, Darian dodged backwards, pulling her sword free as she did so. One down, one to go...
Darian was breathing hard. The fresh orc quickly stabbed out with its sword as she strove to recover her footing. For its trouble, Darian recieved a new wound on her leg. {Natural 20! Darian loses another 9 hit points.} Darian was now seriously wounded. If this kept up, she'd have little left for the rest of this journey! Desperately, she pulled out her wand, and struck the orc with its green ray. The orc stopped in midswing, paralyzed.
{Whew. Okay, before you do any searching, what do you want to do with the living orc? Remember, based on their response to her taunt, they might not speak common.}
Darian decides to kill the orc. They are vile, evil creatures. She knows that Calidor would hesitate here - finding it cruel to kill a helpless creature. But as blood still coursed from her flank, she found the motivation to do it. She isn't cruel, so she tried to do it in the quickest way possible.
She was surprised how much that first blow to her flank hurt. It made her call out, and she wondered if anyone (or anything?) heard. Originally she thought this would be easy. She'd impress the (probably wealthy) prisoner with her feminine heroism. She even considered putting on the green dress before he sees her, for style. He'd probably be stunned to see a beautiful maiden strolling by. She didn't know what he looked like, but she couldn't help thinking he must look like a young Starlimus. She'd tease him a little, then save him, opening up a new world of romance and (of course) prosperity. "What if he had a castle!" she thought, as a tingle went down her spine.
Darian drank down her last Potion of Extra Healing. That's another thing she missed about her friends. Having them around was easier on the healing potions. In some ways, she thought of Andarra as a walking healing potion. And even if Andarra wasn't around, usually someone else would volunteer their potions first.
Of course, having them around also had it's drawbacks. Such as Elpie stealing her stuff. Or Kayla pissing her off. Or Calidor never letting her do anything. Tight ass.
Finally, Darian looked around the orcs' room, trying to find anything of value.
The orc was quickly dispatched. In its paralyzed state, with no one to stop her, killing it quickly was a simple matter of slitting its throat.
Darian then drained her final healing potion. Once more, it quickly did its work, as she idly entertained fantasies of how she would like this little adventure to turn out.
{I took the liberty of using the luck reroll for this one. I don't think you would have been happy with the 9 hit points I rolled. The second roll was much better... regain 23 hp.}
Finally, Darian looked around the room. Scrutiny made it worse. A wooden table, battered and much the worse for wear, sat in the middle. On it was a pile of coins, and a pair of bone dice, as well as two filthy tin mugs containing liquid that looked and smelled repulsive. A corked clay jug also sat on the table.
{There are 13 gold and 29 silver in the coinpile.}
Two cots were near the walls. They were unmade, pitiful-looking things with dirty, moth-eaten blankets. Vermin was actually crawling around on one of them.
The orcs were as ugly dead as alive, with their gray-green skin, protruding jaws, and sharp teeth. They each wore chain mail and carried a shield. One carried a battle-axe, the other a curved sword. While their weapons were dirty and crude-looking, Darian had first-hand experience that they performed their roles more than adequately. Their pouches showed no coin (obviously their loot was on the table -- stakes for their dice game). She was half-hoping to find a tell-tale vial of red liquid, but none was to be found. It stood to reason... why wouldn't an orc make use of healing if it had the means to do so?
In addition to the door Darian entered, to the east, there was a door on each other wall -- north, south, and west.
Darian carefully listens at each of the doors.
Each of the doors was silent.
Darian readied her sword in her hand. This place was starting to give her the creeps. She quietly opened the door on the south wall.
{If nothing jumps at her, she's going to peer in. If it's dark, she'll briefly unhood the continual light torch.}
{It is dark in general down here. Orcs see in the dark really well, being basically subterranean.}
Clutching her torch, Darian tentatively opened the southern door, expecting any number of horrible things to happen to her. However, the door opened without incident. Darian realized she had been holding her breath when she gave a long exhale.
The door opened into a storeroom, full of clutter: half-rotted ropes, a pile of sacking, old wooden staves, and the like. Drawing her attention with a certain morbid fascination, her gaze fell on a table in the centre of the room. On it rested a pile of skulls. Most looked human, and a few still had scraps of rotted flesh on them. What the skulls were there for was unknowable... perhaps a grizzly trophy collection, or maybe just the scraps of meals past. A sick feeling came to her stomach as she remembered the eating habits of orcs, and what they probably had planned for her had she lost the battle.
{There are no other visible exits from this room.}
Darian closed the door in disgust. She moved on to the west door, and opened it. Beyond the door, a passageway stretched out before her, ending in a t-junction. Darian could go north, south, or back the way she came.
Darian decides to backtrack and check out the north door first. She quietly opens the door.
Opening the north door, she found another passageway ending in a t-junction. From here, she could head east, west, or back the way she came.
Darian decided to head east. She casually checked for obvious traps (such as pits, snares, etc).
The light of the passageway seemed to grow a little brighter as she made her way along, and Darian observed that ahead it turned north. Peering around the bend, she saw that the passage opened into a lit chamber. Inside the chamber was a table bearing gold which gleamed in the light and an oil lamp fixed to the wall above. However, she could hear someone -- or something -- lumbering about in there, out of sight.
Darian tried to move silently as she approached, sticking to the left wall. She attempted to get a glimpse of the creature without it seeing her. In case it did see her, she wanted to be ready to surprise it. She was ready with her sword as usual.
Quiet as a mouse, Darian carefully made her way towards the chamber, clutching Balisarda in her sweating hands. Darian never liked being in tunnels and the like for too long... they were so closed in... so dark and confining...
{"I don't sweat, I perspire!" states Darian, matter-of-factly to the narrator.}
{The narrator says, "I call it as I see it. Semantics are for thought bubbles. Or I could say, 'Oops, its not one ogre, its six trolls, and they all see you'. No lip from the peanut gallery!" Ever see George of the Jungle? A fellow there decided to argue with the narrator, much to his chagrin.} Carefully peering into the room, the first thing she saw was the massive form of an ogre. The thing was huge, with grayish brown skin, white, pupiless eyes, and coarse, greasy black hair. It was dressed in a skin which was wrapped around its waist, and had a large wooden club hefted on its shoulder. The good news was, it had not appeared to have seen her. The bad news was, it was heading out of the room -- towards Darian!
Darian quickly hid in the shadows.
Fortunately, these tunnels were roughly-hewn, and provided ample hiding space. The brutish creature passed Darian without seeing her.
{The ogre has just passed Darian, and is still in view. What do you want to do?}
Darian sneaked up behind the ogre and attempted to back-stab it using Balisarda.
{She is then planning on casting magic missile on it. I will need to use one of my second level spells for that one.}
Darian carefully crept up behind the massive beast. While it was much, much larger than a man, it was put together like one, or at least a more primitive ancestor. Thus, she knew where to put her blade. Quick like a viper, Darian stabbed forward and slightly upwards, hoping to run the thing through. Her blade bit deep, causing the ogre to howl in pain. She was just able to pull her sword out as it whirled about to face her, its club brandished before it!
{Okay, that got his attention. He's hurt, but still looks like he could do you some serious hurting.}
Darian smiled an evil grin as the beast howled. As far as she was concerned, this thing represented male cockiness incarnate. She remembered how her brother Baern told her an Ogre chased him one time. They are so stupid! He set up his sword behind him, and like a charging bull, the ogre impaled itself on it. A sobering thought hit her as she remembered the other part of the story... how Baern told her it had almost killed him.
{What happened to my magic missiles? Anyway, Darian wants to continue fighting with Balisarda. If I get into trouble (probably one hit from this guy!) Then I will try the wand. If I'm not dying you can roll up 3 or more rounds... How hurt does he look anyway?}
{Darian only had time for the backstab. Generally, if one attempts a backstab, it is the only thing they can do in a round. No character can both attack and cast spells in the same round. After the attack, surprise was over, and the ogre was MUCH too close for an unopposed spell attack.}
The ogre looked hurt. However, its pain and rage gave it speed as it rushed at Darian! The ogre fought more with brute strength and savagery than any real skill, but its weapon was so large, it was hard to avoid. Darian brought up her sword to block... and felt numbing pain as the shock of the blow travelled through the metal of the blade and up her arm. It was all she could do to hold on to her sword.
{Darian takes 8 damage. BTW, that was a normal hit. The description was just dressing.}
Her arm numb, Darian attempted a counterattack, but in her weakened state, her blow failed to penetrate the beast's thick hide. Panic welling up in her, she lashed out blindly... and almost shouted for joy as the ogre grunted. Her blow was true!
The ogre was visibly badly wounded, black blood oozing from the new slash on his torso. Fighting for survival, the ogre brought its club around in a clumsy swing. Learning her lesson from last time, Darian nimbly sidestepped the blow, gasping as it narrowly missed her shoulder. Darian knew she had to win this fight, and quickly. The ogre was not a skilled fighter, but a pure brawler. However, all it had to do was get in one solid blow. Darian decided not to let it happen.
She wasn't sure which attack killed it. Desperately slashing in the "figure eight" pattern she had seen Calidor use, she struck it twice in the chest. The ogre howled, knowing it was dead, and staggered around for a few steps, crashing into the wall before it expired. Darian gave a sigh of relief. If she hadn't made that initial surprise attack on it... she shuddered to think of the sort of damage a beast that size could have done to her in an extended battle.
