Antoni is startled by the overturned carriage, tumbling into an odd position on the door of the carriage that hit the ground, but he still focuses on the opponent in front of him.
; He brings his sword across in a small arc. "I can even fight you upside down! Ha!"
; He draws the blade back against the ghost. "Maybe I should fight upside down more often."
; Another quick thrust brings Antoni into the full heat of battle. "You should not have underestimated us, foul spirit."
; Antoni, filled with pride, attempts to add a flourish to his sword strike, but bangs his elbow against the bottom carriage door, giving the ghost an opening. "Alright, I'll give you that one...If you would, Grim..."
GHOST now SKILL 7/7 STAMINA 3/15
Rattus, finally done loading his gun takes an opportunity to leap from the overturned coach and set his sights on the Headless Horseman. A shot's fired into the cold mist.
Take that!! Rattus squeaks as he quickly begins to load another slug into his blunderbuss.
11 is more than Rattus' skill of 9 so it's a miss... There is a low thooooffff, that old familiar black powder gun sound, and a golf-ball sized lead slug flies right at the horseman's head...would have hit him right between the eyes, if only he'd had a pair.
both 40 and 76 on d100 is a normal shot. No misfire:(
GHOST: SKILL 9/9 STAMINA 3/15.
Initiative order below, ** is the current player up
Antoni
Rattus
**Grim**
Bear
Gruk Gruk
Grim goes to attack with his bare hands this time!
The ghost dodges and drains some of Grim's essence away.
Hell if it wasnt for you hitting we would be screwed right now lol
Antoni rolls into a more comfortable position for fighting and attacks the ghost again.
; Again, the cramped quarters do little to benefit Antoni who takes yet another hit from the ghost. Perhaps it was time to vacate the carriage.
"Grim, I can't fight like this. See if you can lure him out of the carriage and we can finish our fight outside."
This old man has a trick up his sleeve!
Grim removes the gauntlet off his right hand and grasps the ghost with his skeletal hand. The ghost shrieks as Grim absorbs its life essence
6 Luck spent. 3 Stam drained from the Ghost..
"That works too," Antoni says, eyes wide and breathing heavily. "I suppose we should help the others."
He rolls into a crouching position and finds his footing.
I know I'm still waiting behind the Bear and Gruk-Gruk I just mean for reloading :)
the ghost fades and wiNks out of existence, cursing all the way. As it disappears, Grim finds that in his grip, where a ghost-neck had just been...is a green emerald amulet:
EMERALD AMULET OF JERICO
+2 TO SKILL WHEN EQUIPED...
roaaaar!!!
roaaaar again!!!
roaaar!!! a third time!
the bear basically begins to flesh maul the headless horseman!!!
Seeing it's defeat eminant the headless horsement reaches into his leather riding jacket. He takes out a small red ball and smashes it on his chest. His whole body begins to sizzle, then his form blurrs, and offering a final gesture (a middle finger) begins to vanish from sight...
BUT NOT BEFORE RATTUS GETS OFF ONE LAST SHOT!!!
Finally loading his gun under the stresses of battle Rattus raises his blunderbuss to his beady eyes. He breathes in... Time seems to slow, he sees a snowflake land on the nose of his gun. Silence...
. Ha ha!! Take that one!!
A direct hit to the chest of the Horseman. Rattus takes this time to hop back into the coach, effectively landing on Antoni's head!
"Ow! Antoni exclaims as the ratfolk bounces off his head. "I take it the horseman was dealt with as well?"
Landing flat on his snout, Rattus coughs a tired apology as he rubs his head.
Are we safe now?
Rattus scrambles up and looks through the coach's open door and rubs his hurt face.
It's your turn to peak out!
He points to both Grim and Antoni leaving out the goblin chief Gruk-Gruk since he's smaller by hairs.
Antoni clambers out of the carriage and takes a look around. Seeing nothing, he looks up to the sky. "Any idea of how we're to get to the castle now? I heartily make the suggestion we no longer take rides from something without a head."
As rattus peeks out of the carriage he sees what happened. His gun, instead of firing a lead ball, fired gold medalions, each worth 10 gold pieces...Not the best positive misfire he's heard of the gun doing, but not the worst (shudder) either...
These medalions have lodged themselves into the tree that was just beyond the horsemen. They can be pulled out by hand and added to your war chest.
'campaign' thread activated to track treasure drops and more complicated rule sets we make up...
a bat in a tree squeeks at you, no doubt it has witnessed the entire battle. It takes wing and flys through the night...northward along the road.
THERE!! Something in the trees!! Damn my nearsightedness!
Rattus points and hisses at the bat as it flits and flys away down the icy road.
A well fought battle all. I agree we should follow the bat. It seems I have a present from the ghost. Grim puts on the amulet.
*362*
You walk along as far as the base of a narrow trail which leads up a steep incline, and suddenly you walk out of the fog into a completely clear area. Starkly illuminated by the three-quarter moon stands the btooding Castle Heydrich! Will you:
You can walk up and enter the half-open front gates (turn to 326)
Walk round the outside to see what you can make of the place (turn to 50).
...or do something completely different? Tell the DM!
I do not wish to run headlong into danger again. What does everyone think of walking around the outside of this brooding castle and see what we can find? Keep your guard up still I sense Undead!
Grim waits for his companions to answer. They followed me last time and it was almost disastrous I can not fail them again!
Following Grim: You skirt carefully round the building. You have approached from the south, and can make out some features of what seems to be a two-storey building. In the south-west and south-east corners are the tower, whose spires loom above the slate roofs over the stone walls. Bats flit into and out of the south-west tower belfry. The arrow-slits in the towers are too high and too narrow to climb in through. You can see lights on the ground floor from windows in the west and east sides, but heary drapes prevent you from seeing anything within the Castle itself.
Roll one die and add 3. If the total is less than or equal to your FAITH:
will you:
give up looking around and go through the main gate? 326
get creative and think of another way in? tell the DM
give in to your fear and abandon this foolish quest...maybe go live the quiet life of a farmer or something?? Mwahaha
Less then 7!!!
Everyone I feel a presence...a powerful good presence. Its there in the center of the north wall. Lets go back through the main gates to try to find it.
My tail's nearly frozen off!! If we don't make it inside it'll be a goner!! I'm numbed to the core, my head's aching!! I don't care what we do but PLEASE hurry!!
Rattus is only equipped with what is now a near frozen leather jerkin and his own wet and freezing fur. He's shivering badly hitting his head in a poor attempt to keep warm.
I can feel it too, it's warm and inviting!! Quickly, let's make haste
Rattus moves in double time wading through snow drifts to find the Main Gate.
*326*
You put your shoulder to the heavy wooden gates, and they open with a creak which sets your nerves on edge. You walk through a small entrance area into a large courtyard. Facing you, in the massive stone wall on the north side of the courtyard you observe great brass decorated doors. In the center of the courtyard Between you and those doors is what looks like a family Crypt. There are also two different doors to the west of you in the castle wall, and a door just round the corner which opens into a southern part of the main building. Will you:
Head for the brass doors to the
north? Turn to 2
[b]Open the door in the south? Turn to 18
Open the upper west door? Turn to 377
Open the lower west door? Tum to 54
Head for the Crypt? Turn to 90
Do something totally different? Tell the Dm.
|
The black bear which had been accompanying the group starts to scratch the wall close to where the others felt a good presence; it also felt the supernatural force, but it could not find any way through the walls.
Seeing the group move back to the gate and into the castle, it walks along, in silence, but deeming its feeling of the good presence somewhat trustworthy, it proceeds ahead of the others to the brass doors, but waiting for the party to follow him.
"The north wall, you say? Perhaps I can check the doors to see if they are safe. You can never trust an evil count to make things easy."
;
Antoni takes a good look over the brass doors, making sure they are free from traps.
Antoni does not detect any traps. The brass doors appear to be safe.
"They appear to be safe," Antoni calls out to the rest of the group before opening the door and taking a look behind them.
Antoni your our rogue with a skill of 11
*2*
You push open the brass doors and walk into a well-lit entrance hall which is deserted. Floor mosaics and wall-hangings of plain black and red give the chamber a sombre appearance, and for a moment you think you heard a faint moaning sound . . . There are three exits from the hall. Will you leave through:
A door to the north under from which you can see the warm glow of candle-light? Turn to 101
A corridor to the east, which up ahead turns to the south. A few side doors can be seen down there? Turn to 256
A non-descript wooden door to the west from which comes a faint musty smell? Turn to 60
do something entirely different?
"Hmm, this castle is a labyrinth. There appears some light under the door to the north, perhaps a denizen of this castle is inside. We might be able to get directions or, at least, lay another of the count's minions to rest," Antoni says, taking a few cautious steps forward.
He looks around the area and the door to see if there are any traps.
;
*101*
You push open the north door in the entrance hall and see a brightly lit corridor stretching out before you. (No trap) The floor is tiled, and there are small watercolour paintings hung on the walls. Before you, there is a door on the east wall, and further along, another door on the west wall; between the two there is a side-passage to the east. There is also a door facing you at the (north) end of the corridor. Will you:
Open the north door? Turn to 332
Open the east door? There is a semi-rotten smell coming from in there and you can hear clinking and chopping... Turn to 172
Open the west door? Behind this door you can make out a low growl, as from some animal. Turn to 221
Go down the eastern side-passage? Turn to 353
Do something else?
A loud, wild roar emerges from the black bear, as it drools profusely, widely stretching its lips and exposing its large fangs; hoof-uh hoof-uh hoof-uh-hoof-uh HOOF-HOOOOOOAR, thundering and echoing through the chamber and the empty hallways, then out into the yard and into the surrounding woods. The animal was clearly distressed by the growl coming from the west door, and reacted to it by harshly imposing its presence.
"Shall we check what's growling?" Antoni asks the group. "The bear seems really distressed by it."
As the bear's intimidating roar is released both the growling behind the west door goes silent, and the chopping sound behind the other door goes silent. However, if there is anything dangerous on the other side of either door it is unclear whether this roar caused them to flee/hide, or lay an ambush now that you've announced your presence. It was a terrible roar for sure though!
Do not bother, primate. That defying growl is no more.
"Well, then," Antoni says, taken aback by the bear. "Let's try this north door. After I look it over, of course."
;
Antoni scans the door with the usual amount of caution.