Doug M's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Morsum moves cautiously into the room like the shadow he appears. He scans the room for anyone hiding or anything else dangerous.

This is good evidence for blackmail in the future, although I believe Toothpick is going to eat his eyes anyway..Either way, let's keep this information. It may prove useful. Judge, you said they found his room? Let's ransack it, see if we can find where the embezzled funds are going.

Edmin moves to the wardrobe with his sword ready and swings open the door.

1d20 ⇒ 20

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Bref starts to search, then gets distracted by a tin of boot-polish; he tastes it, chews thoughtfully, and then puts it in a pocket for later. So it's Jax who goes down on his knees and rummages under the bed. "Spare blankets? Really?" After a few moments he adds, "There's a crate under here. And... yes, a chest. Ha, I even recognize the model. Locked, I'm sure. Just a moment." There's a scraping sound, and Jax pulls out a large, flat wooden box. "I believe I can guess... uh huh."

The box is unlocked. Flipping back the lid reveals three rows of flat bottles of brown liquid. Jax holds one up. "'Old Black Dragon, Guaranteed Aged'. I notice they don't say aged how long, so points for truth in advertising." He uncorks one bottle, sniffs. "Oh, my. Well, perhaps if I were in terrible pain, or dying.... anyway, there's still that interesting little chest down below there. Bref? Are you done snacking?"

1d20 ⇒ 7

Morsum reaches into the wardrobe. He rummages among the clothes there with one hand -- it's at the end of an arm, more or less, Edmin thinks to himself, so it must be a hand -- and pulls out a flat bottle. It is about half full and looks like all the other whiskey bottles. "This one is different," he announces in his faint, rasping voice.

"Different?" asks Sir Edmin. "It looks like a bottle of whiskey. Different how?"

"Different." says Morsum.

"Well... what d'you mean by 'different'?"

There is a long pause.

"Not the same."

As he hears that the room is apparently unoccupied, Tohram gathers up any papers that appear relevant and then shoves them into a sack. He then heads down to Blackerly's room. Once there, he casts Detect Magic to see whether there are any magical auras about.

Cast Detect Magic
AR check: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

The Judge winces. Trying to cast past the antimagic ward is like... drinking something hot, when you have a tooth going bad? It leaves a peculiarly unpleasant lingering pain in the head.

There's no light in this room. Bref, Jax and Morsum have darkvision, but the Judge and Sir Edmin will be groping around in the dark until someone lights something. There is a small lamp beside the bed. Just saying.

I have Darkvision and Low Light Vision.

Rosa would also have cast dectect magic soon as she entered. GM she has DV as well

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Rosa just can not get past the magic ward in this room, before she even starts she knows she will fail.

She looks around at the walls, thinking,

"Now where would I hid things"

Whoops, did not realize that. Okay. And now for the Brefbot:

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

"Another trap!" says Bref happily. "Same idea as the first one -- sharpened edge on the handle, and this gunk on it." Bref is burrowed under the bed, humming happily. Then: "Dammit! It's another one of these stupid locks!"

Edmin frowns at the shadow. I know what different means. Why is this different than the others?

"Because it's not like the others."

Morsum rolled a natural 20 on his Perception check. But he's got an Int of 7 and is not used to explaining things. He's good with "sneak", "terrorize", "shred" and "kill". Not so good with "define", "classify", "identify" or "explain".

The Judge arrives and looks at the one that is different.

Might be magic. I cannot get the simple spell to detect magical auras to work because of whatever the anti-magic shield they have in place. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

If Morsum thinks it is different, then it is probably a magical potion, or poison. Considering that Blackerly was into embezzlement, it could be either.

Edmin shrugs and hands the bottle to the judge. "We need to move on soon. Find what you can and lets go."

Pale hand opened, a chill air escaping her lips, "May I have a look at what this 'different' bottle holds?, there is a suspicion behind Cуровую's question.

"Also is there any way we can use the substance on the traps for our own use?"

What do you want to do with the bottle? If it's a potion, a cautious sip and a Spellcraft check is called for.

Bref lets out a shriek from beneath the bed. For a moment, everyone freezes -- has the goblin found another trap? -- but a moment later he wiggles out backwards, dragging a small but apparently quite heavy chest along with him.

"Ta," flipping the unlocked chest open, "-daaaa!"

The chest is nearly full of neatly stacked gold coins. Otherwise, the only thing inside is a small package of wax paper, about the size of a man's hand.

I will first ask the Judge if it detects as magical, if its NOT magical I am pretty sure I can guess what it is. I was wondering what they used to drug the ogre. I am inclined to think this may be it.

"Ta," flipping the unlocked chest open, "-daaaa!"

The chest is nearly full of neatly stacked gold coins. Otherwise, the only thing inside is a small package of wax paper, about the size of a man's hand.

"Nicely done Bref, all that glitters ... and something more. If our absent host took pains to hide whatever that is with his gold then it bares examining." Her icy hand almost pets the Gobs head before she withdraws it, but a wisp of cool air tickles the nape of the Gob's neck.

Zimu picks up the package. A few inches square, it consists of two pieces of wax paper with some sort of sticky, tarry substance between them. The wax paper peels back easily; the layer of stuff within is perhaps a quarter inch thick. It looks like taffy but has a faint musky aroma. Some of it has been removed.

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Zimu frowns. "I... I've seen this before. Or heard it described. But I can't quite remember. Something dangerous, I think."

Rosa looks at the chest trying to work out they wight.

Rock picks up the packet and trys again to detect magic

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

She puts it back not able to get past the Magic ward again.

"we will have to split that so the wight is distributed ot the ogre carries it."

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Jax peers over the witch's shoulder. "Don't know what this stuff is, but drugs of some sort would be my guess. Wonder who he was selling to, though? He'd be able to get the guards' money just by selling them this rotgut whiskey. Doubt they'd be able to afford hard stuff." Jax gives the chest a speculative shove with one foot. "Not going to take time to count it, but there's at least a thousand gold eagles in there. Bit more, I'd say."

Zimu frowns. "I... I've seen this before. Or heard it described. But I can't quite remember. Something dangerous, I think."

is there any aroma coming from it? If so would the over remember the smell?

It does have an interesting, complex aroma. Not a familiar one, though. The situation seems to be "heard it described or read about it somewhere, wasn't paying close attention, can't quite remember" -- i.e., you missed a DC by 1.

Sorry that was the auto correct! I meant to type, 'would the OGRE remember the smell?

Bref looks mournfully at the bed, wishing he had saved his artwork for Blackerly's bed.

Bref belches calling Grumble Come give this stuff a sniffer! Did they use this on you, make you a flacid ogre?

Bref starts counting coins. It is tough going since they are shiny.

1d20 ⇒ 11

The ogre's big nostrils flare. "Huh. Nope." He scratches his head. "Hey, are we gonna get outta here?"

Spell craft rolls

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26 bottle
1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20 chest item

Yes yes. Gotta tear out Sgt's eyes first. Wanna poo on his bed for me? tee hee tee hee hee. That way when he has no eyes he will lay down in it..tee hee tee hee hee

Rosa, you got nothing. Either these aren't magical, or their function and nature is beyond you (higher DC).

Is there a Knowledge roll I can make for the bottle?

thank gm
Rosa puts them back for other to look at and then looks for any other thing of use. pillow cases for the coin spiting if needed.

"Come on people we don't have all night here. Get the stuff you want and lets go. You cant spend any of that fargin gold if you are dead."
Edmin's attitude seems to be souring, the knight fidgets in the door way out of the room, the knuckles of his right hand have turned white as they grip the hilt of the long sword.

At Edmin's words, Rosa moves instantly, picking up whats to hand and heading out the door.

As she passed him She simply says

"Ready"

And she is, stopping hall way she waits for the other keeping a look out for what ever may come on them.

She to feels the need to get going.

Seeing the gold, the Judge begins to think: The question now is, Where is Blackerly? It is well past the middle of the night, and he is not in bed. Didn't someone mention he likes gambling and drinking with the guards? They must either be somewhere, Warden's tower? Guardhouse?

" Knowing soldiers as I do, I would assume the guard house. From what we have heard the Warden is more into his books than doing what he should be doing, and with the evidence you have found against Backley so far I would think he is keeping his after hour actions secret from him. Since we have not been overwhelmed yet I would have to think he is in another building all together. The guard house is the tactical choice."
Edmin glances back at the judge as he speaks, the knight seeming more and more anxious. "We need a plan, right now, to get past the guard house. I am thinking our scouts should exit this building and clear off part of the wall so we can go into the guard house from the top and open the gate. Then again with security as lax as we have found it so far, the gate may actually be open. We will not know until we actually look outside."

Rosa says
"Follow the wine, if they are not in the guard house they will be where they can get wine, did the map have a wine cellar or store building. if he is gambling and if I was Blackerly, I would spike the wine so I could win from fools. He may even seek to drug the wardens night cap to give him a good nights sleep, wile I/Blackerly did as I liked. That could explain the lack of troops being here now, but lets not back on that"

Sounds reasonable. Lets finish checking this area. What rooms are left on the map? While I agree that we should hit the guardhouse, I think that getting to a sleeping magician first might be the best choice. It may help our witch with spells and I don't want wiggle fingers to suddenly knock out our fighters and Bref during out attack on the guardhouse.

As far as the walls go, there are supposed to be two guards. If Toothpick and Morsum can scale a wall, they should be able to surprise and take them down. I do not know whether the rest of us would be able to climb quick enough to surprise the guards.

Lets split the coins and then get moving. Time does not wait, and neither will morning.

There are still two doors left unexplored: one to the north from Blackerly's office, and one opening to the west off the Great Hall. Both open into the same area -- the northern part of the West Wing. They might even open onto the same room, if it were a very large room.

Lets open the door to the north of Blackerly's office next.

The door opens easily. The room beyond is unlit, but characters with darkvision can see easily.

It appears to be a storage room. At a brief glance, there are crates of torches, lanterns, and kegs of oil. There are several spare guard uniforms, complete with chain shirt, helmets and clubs (though not swords or shields) and a couple of signal horns. There are several lengths of rope, a pulley, a box of tools (hammer, chisel, crowbar) and some light construction equipment (mortars, trowels, a sack of cement and a mixer). There are a dozen or so chairs, neatly stacked, plus also a large one that is nearly a throne, and a wooden podium. A folded up mass of cloth and poles appears to be a large portable awning.

Rosa gos in a looks around, 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
"You know this place should have a lot more stuff in than this, so smuggling may be out or this place would be full, so he is skimming unless, something has just acered to me, interesting, now would he be that clever humm?."

Rosa go's over and gets a hammer and some spikes form the tool box, giving it to Jex she says
"For spiking doors Jex"

Then she takes some rages, a lamp and a small geog of oil, carrying them she leaves the room as she walks past the Judge she slaps him on the back, chuckling she says.

"All we need to burn this place to the ground, how very convenient"

She then walks to the cooks room looking for glass wine battles.

1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 Per for glass bottles GM

Perception 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Int Check for room 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Edmin begins going through the helmets, trying to find one that fits. He also attaches a club to his belt. After, he shoves the crowbar into his belt.

Eyeing Rosa Cуровую has a thought

There is a devil, of that I have little doubt.

Is he biding his time, waiting to corrupt us

Or is he already within us, just itching to get out?

The Judge watches the foolish impulsive woman wondering why she has such a suicidal nature.
Seeing her wander off with a bunch of oil. Is it your goal to die? You really have no clue how this bureaucracy works do you? If we escape with minimal damage, this will be covered up. Of course they will search for us, but evidentially it will be covered up. If we burn the place and massacre all within, then there will be a great outrage, and ten times the resources will be used to recapture us.

After looking at the stuff in the storage rooms. The Judge shrugs and finds a nice club and a clean guard uniform which he puts on.

Lets all put on the guard uniforms. Might trick someone for a few moments to give us an advantage next time we get into a fight.

Tohram then looks over to Bref. Shall we see what is in the last door off the main hall? Then I think that we are just about done here.

The judge must have been reading Cуровую intent, for the alabaster witch had already found a modest corner to finally shed her prison rags in favor of the new found clothes.

Curiously, the former 'garments' on the floor seem to have a form of frost burn on them ...

No uniforms for Bref or Grumblejack. Everyone else can find one that more or less fits.

The last door is solid and securely locked.

Brefbot 1d20 + 11 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 11 + 2 - 1 = 15

Bref snarls in irritation.

1d20 + 11 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 11 + 2 - 1 = 31

"Aha!" The door swings open.

Torchlight from the hall glitters off of shining metal. There are a dozen longswords and shields in this small, crowded room, neatly stacked or hanging from the walls. There are four light crossbows, and a large box of bolts -- at least 200 of them. A rack against the wall holds a painfully familiar set of branding irons.

In one corner, a wooden crate holds a collection of what looks like makeshift weapons and small contraband articles collected from prisoners. A dozen sets of hand manacles and two coffles (leg chains) dangle from another rack.

A stack of neatly trimmed firewood is piled along one wall. There are two large (6'), sturdy wooden stakes with pointed ends.

A large greataxe hangs on the wall in what is obviously a position of honor. Below it is a solid hardwood block about the size of a large stool. Its surface is stained black and notched with numerous cutting strokes.

There is a large, locked cabinet in the opposite corner with what looks like an arcane symbol traced upon it. 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14 Below the symbol, a sign reads 'DANGER - DO NOT OPEN'.

Cуровую in uniform will then walk up to the ogre and ask it to arm and shield itself as best it can with what remains of the inventory in this room. This Game just past the opening act and was about to get interesting after all.

She will then occupy an area between Edmin and Jax in the party order.

Edit: DM and I posted about Grumblejack back to back, checking if he was armed by now because he should be.

Edmin takes a large intake of breath and practically runs to the large axe, grabbing it from the wall and holding it to determine its balance. he turns to the group with a large smile, holding the axe in a relaxed ready stance. "Oh the things I have planed for this!"

When you said large great axe, did you mean a big axe or one sized for a large person?