Adventures in Oakstead

Game Master Foxy Quickpaw

Tarjun's eyelid twitches almost imperceptibly. What?! There's an almost accusatory side to the glance he shoots at the dwarf. Do something to fix this!

Clara's fist though that comes directly out of her mouth is "What do you eat?"

"Nothing." the dwarf replies.

Tarjun's eyes widen by a few millimeters. No food?! That's horrible! Dude's insane! You can't expect anything from him Jewie!

Jewel stares at the dwarf. "What do you mean 'Nothing'? Everything living needs to eat!"

Perception Does the dwarf breath?: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

"Nothing. I don't need to." the dwarf replies. But he does not look malnourished, nor undead.

Yeah, this guy's hella sus. Or a plant. Maybe there's something in his treasure that could help us!

Unfortunately, Tarjun's input must remain unheard.

"You don't eat and sit the whole time in this dark hole?" Clara sums up what she understands and voices her disbelief. Not about the facts, but how someone could do that voluntarily.

Jewel thinks for a moment on the dwarf's words. "Clara. I don't think he's living, or undead." She points at him and asks, "Are you some sort of magical guardian? Some sort of constructed creature? Who's stuff is this that you're guarding? Ah, never mind that. How long have you been stuck here?"

Then she points back at the door, "Will that thing leave soon? Or is there some other way out? We don't want to bother you, and you don't want us here. So some safe way to leave will give both of us what we want!"

Know(Dungeoneering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

"Even if it turns around, it would stil lurk in the dark. This thing is going nowhere." Clara states.

Sooo- we've got a dwarf who's not really a dwarf, and some kind of gross jelly that eats people outside? Great. Just great. If Tarjun could roll his eyes, he would.

What do we do now? Kill the jelly with fire? How much fire do we have?

Clara shakes Tarjun violently. "Wake up sleepyhead."

"Don't you have something in your treassure to whack such a thing with?"

"I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole."

Is it enough to shake off the paralysis?

Tarjun suddenly starts coughing, and spits out the mouthful of green jelly he somehow managed not to swallow.

"ERRRK! What even was this thing?! And what am I doing up here? Drop me! " Knowledge (dungeoonering): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

He cups his hands, conjures up some water, and drinks it to wash the taste off his mouth. Casting Create Water .

Once he feels a little better, he turns to the dwarf. " Look... Sir. You don't mind having that out of your door, which is kinda weird, but okay. Thing is, it's a problem right now, 'cause it's blocking our way. If we don't figure out how to get rid of it, you'll have to be stuck with us forever. So, can't you help us so we can leave?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

Clara likes seeing Tarjun struggle in mid air and leaves him there for now. While struggling Tarjun keeps the dwarf's attention focused on him, she ogles the treasure, it there is something of use for this fight.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14

Jewel moves in front of the dwarf to get his attention again. "You wouldn't whack it with a 10' pole? Of course not! If you did it would absorb the pole, then you. And you'd be paralyzed and burned by the slimy thing. So can we go out the other door? Where does it go?"

You're aware that 'wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole' is an idiom? Like 'this is disgusting, I wouldn't touch it at all.

"You can try if it is better this way, but make sure the other door is properly closed and that THING doesn't enter. But I have no clue where that door leads.

"I mean, it ain't our door. You can check it to see if it's closed properly. Jewie's got tiny arms, maybe it's still a bit ajar." Tarjun tries to appeal to the dwarf's distrustful nature to get him to turn his back on whatever Clara's doing.

Bluff: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

I'm aware. Just using it as a reply to have some response to the creature.

Jewel moves over to the other door, listening at it before opening. Perception?: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

Once the door is open she casts Dancing Lights and sends the lights flying out, spinning up to the ceiling and along the walls. She studies the area and again listens for danger. "Erastil, please provide this foolish servant some guidance. We're lost and need to get back home...."
Perception?: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11 Wow! A 20 and a 1?

Behind the door is a corridor like the one behind the other door. Leading straight into the dark.

Erastil really said 'Nah'

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

Tarjun steps to Jewel's side, and listens for danger as well. He can't hear anything. But would a jelly on the prowl make loud noises?

"Guess we have to head that way if we can't find anything to hurt the jelly," he says regretfully. "But what if we meet another one? We've got to be protected! Even a bit..."

"At least we can make a lot of light, to make sure we don't miss such a jelly again."

Clara casts dancing lights and sends them as far ahead as possible.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

There is nothing to see in this passageway.

Survival(Untrained): 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10

"We had lights too the last time!" Tarjun objects.

Survival(Untrained): 1d20 ⇒ 5

Jewel does light Clara, running her Dancing Lights down the passageway as far as she can without the spell going out. "So this time we keep two sets of lights running. One set close so we can see the ground we're walking on, and one way out so we aren't surprised. If we run into something we run back to the door."

"Do either of you have anything that can be used to block the passage if we have to run? I can cast Obscuring Mist but they could just run through it."

"I can hit 'em with a stick," Tarjun replies helpfully. Beat. "What? That's pretty much it."

"I'll just go first, I guess. Don't worry! It's a pretty good stick." He steps confidently in the corridor.

Well, semi-confidently, at least. He's quite wary of being swallowed up by another jelly, and jumps at the slightest sound.

Survival: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (14) - 1 = 13

"Why aren't there any cobwebs and spiders and bugs like in the barn or the basement of our house?" Clara wonders.

"Maybe 'cause this place's pretty deep down?" Tarjun suggests. "Also filled with lots of things that wanna kill us."

"Maybe if we hurry up and don't make a noise they won't catch up before we're outside."

Hurrying along the rather long corridor you find it takes three turns to the right, where you finally find a jelly cube in front of a door. This time at least at a 50 ft distance, instead of walking into it.

Jewel motions for everyone to be quiet and return back the way they had come. She makes sure they understand with her hand in front of her mouth with a finger up (standard "shush" signal?) and motioning back.

We pretty well understood that the thing doesn't move as fast as we can, correct?

Once they'd gone around the second corner back to the room she whispers, "That creep must have known that these corridors just loop around and back to each other! There's got to be some other way out or how did he get in?"

"Or it's just another one," Tarjun whispers back. "There's no way to know!"

As silently as he can (turns out, he can be surprisingly silent when he really puts his mind to it), he heads for the second turn to the right...

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

"So, what are we doing? Back to the dwarf? Or get rid of that jelly cube and surprise the dwarf that we enter from this side?"

Somehow read the previous post as: there's three turns to the right in a hallway, and the jelly is blocking one of them...

"Well, gyess we ain't got no choice," Tarjun kicks a small pebble in his frustration, watching it roll lazily back towards the dwarf's lair. "If it feeds on the dwarf guy, maybe it'd get an upset tummy. Just kidding," he quickly adds before Jewel can take him seriously and recoil in horror.

Or not. Even she doesn't seem to like the dwarf much - and that was saying something. Tarjun has 'ever seen his sister actively dislike someone and he' s rather worried of what could happen if she snaps. He's pretty sure it won't be regular people snapping, where you meet a great lot of people who get on your nerves, and you eventually learn you won't be able to bite everyone's head off.

Jewel had no practice in not biting people's heads off. It simply hadn't come up before...

He thinks about destroying the jelly for a moment. "I mean, I just don't know how to get rid of it, is all. Except by whacking hard enough, and I can't be sure it'd work. You got an idea? Can Caspar light it up?"

If the group simply gives up...

"Sure Caspar can. But I'd have to go closer than I'm comfortable with. Do we have rope? So you could pull me out if I get jello filling?"

Jewel considers what options they have.... "Wait a minute. The cube doesn't move fast at all, but we can't get within range of hitting it or it'll slime us. Clara. No, we won't pull you out of it. We won't let it get you! You can Levitate and use Caspar. We'll tie the rope to you and pull you along while you blast the thing over and over. The fire should melt it to a puddle!"

"Well, I can do that levitate thing only once per day."

I don't think we have an actual rope with us?

"Did you already do it or nah? 'Cause I don't see how it's gonna be useful in an underground place like this one- 'cept possibly right now! Unless you can toss Caspar at it and tell him to do his fire thing from afar?"

He looks at the quarterstaff he typically uses as a walking stick. "Or can you set fire to this thing, and then I poke the jelly with it? It's quite long."

Jewel turnsa slowly, staring at the walls without barely seeing them. There has to be an answer.... "The levitation is only once per day? OK. There's got to be another way then."

"Well. You have to focus on the target when you use Caspar. You can't do that while you are running. So, somebody else has to do the running for you."

"So, I'll cast Mount. We both get on the horse that it summons. We ride it close to the cube and turn around. Then I'll direct it to walk forward away from the cube while you burn it with Caspar. I'll just have to keep the horse from going too fast...."

"That sounds fun!"

"And I'm just gonna stand there and cheer you on," Tarjun sighs. "Got it, have fun and all..."

Jewel nods when Clara agrees. It should work.... "You get back to the door. Hopefully we won't be coming all the way back to it."

She calls out the arcane syllables to summon a horse and mounts it once it appears. "Come on Clara, and get ready to burn that big glob of goo!"

Once we are both mounted Jewel wheels the horse around twice to get a feel for how long it takes. She doesn't want to get caught by the cube before they even get started! Then she rides it back into view of the monster. She turns it around close enough so they can be set up to burn and move away as planned.

Using Feral Speech to talk to the horse. "Just walk ahead at the same speed as the cube. It's really slow so it can't catch up with you. We're going to destroy it!"

Clara climbs up the horse with Tarjun's help. Sitting in direction of the back of the horse she waits until Jewel has moved it into position and then shoots fire at the cube using Caspar.

Ray: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 194d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 5, 4) = 16
Ray: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Ray: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 124d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 4, 3) = 19

Caspar shoots three rays of fire, melting the cube.

combat over

Jewel is surprised when it goes as easy as that, but accepts that maybe they got lucky.

She goes to get Tarjun, then wheels the horse around again and heads back toward the far door. "Now we should check and see if that is the door back into the room. If this corridor is just a loop then we need to know how to get out of here. We can create water but there's no food! We got here somehow, there's got to be a way back!"

The kids go back to the door behind the jelly cube and open the door. It is indeed the first door they tried to get out through. And they are back with the dwarf and the treassure.

"What are you doing back here?" the grumpy dwarf inquires. But it is a rhetorical question. He sighs.

"That was actually kinda cool," Tarjun grins as the girls burn the jelly away.

Back in the dwarf's lair: "Well, we killed the monster -that's good news. But we're still lost- that's bad news."

"Seriously, there's no way outta there. We tried. You sure you don't know where we can go to leave this place?" Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

Jewel stares at the dwarf. "We went out that door and ran into the same cube. We killed it but that corridor just comes back here. Leaving by either door just leaves back here. So how do you get food and water for yourself? How are you living down here? Do you need help?"

Since I'm late I'll help? Diplomacy auto-aid since I'm at +10.

"Yes, I need help. Help to get you out of my treasure vault. Otherwise I'm fine. I don't need food or water or sleep. I just need my treasure and my peace."

LOL! Clara and meek don't belong in the same sentence!

If only :(

Are we waiting for someone to level up before moving on?

We are waiting for someone stupid enough to start the fight against a sounder of boars. :D

Nope! One boar is dangerous enough.... Cast your spell Tarjun!

Hmm.... I think I did the level up for Jewel. Better check before the battle starts!

Before you ask again why we are stuck. I don't have the spells known for Clara anywhere. Which is a pain in the butt. I need to choose again and cross check if these actually are the ones I used so far.

No problem. I'm away from home and have limited time to use my computer. I have a tablet, but I'm not fond of posting with the onscreen keyboard.

I'll try to keep up.

Just so you know, guys, I'll be going on holidays from Tuesday 13th to Saturday 17th included, with limited posting abilities and no access to maps :) Feel free to bot me if you needed!

Another chance to marry Tarjun off! :D

Another chance for Clara to marry Tarjun? I doubt either of the parents would accept that!

An early marriage gets you an early divorce! :P (and an investigation by the cops if you're a minor)

Arranged marriage to try and get a couple kids with discipline problems under control.... Usually fails miserably!

I just noticed that when I did the level up for Jewel I didn't pick the two spells. Can I do that now?

I'm really tempted to quote my english teacher here. :D

But sure.

Hi everyone!

I'll be on holidays from July 25th to August 2nd. Posting will be possible but limited, and I won't have access to maps

Please bot me if needed, especially in fights!

Hey, I know I've been pretty quiet lately, but I'm getting uncomfortable with the way the story is going. I think I'm going to withdraw (and as Ernhild in the other campaign too).

All the best!

We can send Georges back to his family and follow some other shiny thing that crosses the way. It's supposed to be fun for all and lately it drags instead of being adventurous.

On the other hand... the game drags lately, and that is probably due to a serious lack of good ideas where to take the story on my part.

I'm sorry that I failed to get it to a happy ending for all.

The way this game has been from the beginning is for everyone's fun. It's for all of us to decide on any changes in directions.

Tarjun, Any suggestions where to take us? What would be fun for Tarjun? I'd like to continue if we can. Jewel might be a grump at times but she'd want to come along with her big brother!

It's mostly the whole "kids kissing people who are considerably older" that makes me extremely uncomfortable. But if our adventure is reaching its end - we've had a good few years playing.

It's mostly the whole "kids kissing people who are considerably older" that makes me extremely uncomfortable. But if our adventure is reaching its end - we've had a good few years playing.

I can totally understand that you consider that uncomfortable. I admit that George has grown a head since he was introduced due to my bad memory, but in my imagination it was one young teen giving another young teen a peck.

For reference the introduction of George:

As Tarjun pipes loudly over the perfect music two of the satyrs perform a painful expression appears on most faces.

Zephyrus interrupts his care for the nymph and turns to one of the staring younglings. "You go take those kids somewhere else and show them how to properly play the pipes."

The youngling isn't happy about being robbed of this entertainment, but obeys. The youngling that is about Clara's size comes scuffling over, grabs Tarjun at his arm and drags him away into the woods.

Again, I'm sorry that I ruined it for you.

Understood. Many times I have to stop and think about what I am about to post. Gotta remember that we are 10-12 year old kids. I see Jewel wanting to be more mature than she is, but having trouble understanding what that really is. She sees Clara, also wanting to be more grown up, but struggling even more since she’s the youngest of us.

My second ex-wife had a 7 year old girl when we married, so I had some experience with how she acted at various ages. Other than the magic, she was Clara…. That has added a good deal of humor to the game for me.

GM Foxy has done a great job with this game, keeping it entertaining even though we haven’t been ‘saving the world’ like so many regular games. It has taken more than a couple PMs to get me back on track, and I’m sorry for my many mistakes. I hope we can make things work and keep it going.

The way this game has been from the beginning is for everyone's fun. It's for all of us to decide on any changes in directions.

I'm giving an option to move the game somewhere else. The idea is to move somewhere with more people to get some quest options. Like stealing ideas for beginners quests from written adventures. So far it is only Clara running around excitedly and that can as well be shot down again if you got better ideas where to take the story.

To honour your statement that it is for us all to decide where to go with the story, the discussion is opened.

I like it. In a technologically primitive world it might make sense for pre-teen children to be sent to relatives to broaden the scope of their world view. While our parents would miss us for 'chores', I doubt they believe that our recent absence was because we were teleported across the country and had the adventures that we did. I mean.... Imprisoned in a magical maze, then in the castle of some unknown Lord, and finally aboard a pirate ship? What parents would believe that!?! They might believe that Jewel fully accepts Erastil, but she's still just a young girl. Maybe they made up the stories while they were wandering around the area, camping and having fun! So maybe it's time she got sent to the city and introduced to the real clergy of Erastil.... And Tarjun, could be apprenticed to a carpenter! Teach him some real skills that can earn money, not the life of a street musician! LOL!!!

It's true that it would make some sense to send teenagers to be apprenticed to a guild member in a city. I like it.

@Jewel - You wrote Shelly and Will into hiding. I don't know where they are. Bringing them back is now your problem.

LOL! Sure. Can do.

We just hadn't had them around for a couple of days and I hadn't read the posts thinking about them. Now Jewel IS thinking about them. Besides, she isn't sure about leaving, yet.

@Jewel until you tell me where your parents went all searches and inquiries will turn up empty.
Or you stumble upon them yourself, that works too.

Personally I'm liking Tarjun's idea about getting us apprenticed to someone in the city. And, possibly thinking that we might get upset at the idea maybe they went to the city without telling us. Them not telling others in town also makes sense as they'd know we'd ask.

With Clara mentioning that Tarjun spoke to them yesterday.... Maybe they mentioned something to him? Going to the city to check on seed prices or something? That might fool Tarjun, especially because he doesn't really think much about the farm.

Tarjun, Please reply in game. Then we can move on to the city and try to find/surprise our parents.

Tarjun just creatively avoided telling the truth about where you'd be going and got an ok for that.

Your idea just has one major flaw: Farmers, Erastil followers nonetheless, leaving their farm without telling anyone to take care of it while they are gone for a week?

One of them going might be an option. But both without telling? Without leaving a note?

That would be a stretch even for the Johnsons.

Even with Jewel there? I think they'd trust their little priestess of Erastil to do the right thing....

And I've just painted myself into a corner again! How far is it to the city? Back when we were returning from the pirate ship I think we only took a day to get home from there. ??

Even with Jewel there? I think they'd trust their little priestess of Erastil to do the right thing....

And I've just painted myself into a corner again! How far is it to the city? Back when we were returning from the pirate ship I think we only took a day to get home from there. ??

I'm not in the mood to look it up but I thought two days. But anyway - at least one day to get there, one day to get the business done, one day to get back is three days.

If you want to go through with it, we can do that too. But I guess Will and Shelly have some explanation to do when they come back.

And you'd still have the issue, that they haven't told you where they are, you haven't found out and would leave the farm without anyone looking after it on the hunch that the parents might be in the city. You still could find a note somewhere to get yourself out of the corner. ;)

Looks like one day.... One long day!

OK. I'll write up a post, assuming Tarjun's response.

@Jewel, please change the avatar you're using for Will to this one. If you filter for male, human, expert you have it on the single page of results.

Done