Barnabus steps with the elf onto the crest, shield and axe in hand ready for trouble when they appear.
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"We've been walking north since we arrived, and I think we've reached the end of the necropolis. Seems like we need to be "taken" somewhere else to perhaps reach another level. We, dwarves, tend to use elevators to access different levels in our strongholds, but perhaps the creator of this tomb wanted something more fancy. My 2 cents." The dwarf looks a little impatient with the mage's studying. :)
Barnabas tells the others he will go in first, ”We dwarves are a hearty lot, if there be any disease effect, I’m the best to withstand it.”
The dwarf warrior who has remained silent, "Welcome Renliat, Barnabus Blackrock. I doubt you're here to do us harm. So far we've faced undead and insane elementals. You seem to have your wits about you, which means you have not been here long, so your story rings true. Guess you're trapped here with us till we find the main tomb to whatever is need to escape. We could use your help."
Welcome aboard, I am the muscle! :)
"Ooooh, look at that. Good eyes, Issi. We have 2 of the 4 items we need. Guess we're done here. Time to head back out, although we lost our point man. We'll all have to travel together to avoid ambushes." Barnabus picks up his javelin and shield and is ready to head out.
Barnabas looks appreciatively at the ghost and apologizes for killing him. When it fades away, he looks at the party, ”Guess we have to keep an eye out for the defouled dagger, a voice and a keepsake.” When the party investigates the next room, he wonders aloud, ”Does anyone see a dagger anywhere? Seems like right place for it to be defiled.”
Blackrock lands and nods his head at Terrence and Hassan for the help. "Good riddance." He gingerly bends down and picks up his dropped shield and looks for a seat, as he is covered in wounds and burns. "Anyone have any aloe?"
Blackrock wipes the blood from his mouth from the efreeti's blows. "Too bad you couldn't finish me off, outsider! Now it's my turn!"
Barnabus thanks Hassan, "Gladly! Bastard just burned me!" He then flies up toward the efreeti, dropping his shield, with Grendel in both hands!
Round 3:
Barnabas continues hasting himself with his boots and sighs as he sees Issi fall back, leaving him alone to face the wrath of the fire elementals! He focuses all of his attacks on the southern elemental, whom he wounded previously.
Still here as well, ready to restart.
Barnabas looks around, "Guess this medusa thing is gonna be part of the architecture of all the buildings. Well, let's have a look around the corners to the east first. Everybody sharp!" The dwarf grips Grendel and his shield (which he picked up at the end of the ghost battle) and leads the way.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Don't feel like lugging a body around this necropolis." After Issi has taken or not taken the body's possessions, Blackrock hefts the corpse back on the carriage. "Shall we move ahead further north as a group? We almost got our asses handed to us just now. Best to stick together and hope no more ghosts show up."
"Thanks for the healing Brother, and good job finishing that ghost off. Seems Grendel wasn't that effective against the ghost. The poor fellow did mention he was looking for his sister, Lucretia. Given his signet ring with a cross-eyed medusa, most likely he and Lucretia were Adellas. We should be more careful disturbing dead remains in the future." Blackrock sends Hassan a wink. "But since we already disturbed this fella's, do you think we should examine him? His gold signet ring may turn out to be useful, no?"
Feeling the fires burn his flesh only angers Barnabus, who full-attacks the ghost!
"I know Hassan, we've got to save Brother Trip's bacon! Don't fail me now, Grendel!" Blackrock moves in, attacking from the ghost's eastern flank, bracing himself for the stroke of the death-whip! Afterwards, he two-hands the waraxe and tries to harm the ghost!
Whoa...not good when my allies are burning..what the heck else can this ghost do? Seems most of his abilities have a range of 30'. Tread carefully, BB. Blackrock drops his shield to the ground as a free action. "You won't be doing much for me in this battle against its ghostly touches." He then takes a 5' step west, so he and Issi are 30' away from each other and he feels Hassan's welcoming magic. He then draws a javelin and chucks it at the ghost, with Grendel in his off hand, only to see it harmlessly pass through the ghost.
"You and me both, Red! Hate when things mess with my mind. I'm thinking this won't be the first time this happens. Looks like bad things happened to this family...Also, where is the corpse? Risen? We must be alert..."
”Watch my back, Brother, just in case some undead horror pops out...” Confidently, Barnabus moves up to coffin, shield and Grendel in hand, ready to smite.
"Love ya hair, Red!" Barnabus gives her a jovial laugh. Realizing he has not heard from Hassan, the dwarf moves up, Grendel and shield in hand. When he sees the carriage in the shrubs, he moves to check it out.
Barnabus steps out of the mausoleum and looks up. "Well, there's something you don't see every day...guess this place is cursed. So I guess we wait here for Hassan to come back or to scream?! Fine by me." The dwarf grunts and puts his back against the stone mausoleum, holding Grendel and his shield close. "So Red, how'd you end up with an ex-assassin as your bestie? There must be a story to that."
Stepping out his sarcophagi, Barnabas grunts, "The creator of this Tomb is one sick dramatic puppy." Upon hearing Hassan's voice but not seeing him, Blackrock snickers, "That's going to take some time getting used to just hearing your voice. By the way, given that thick stone block to the north, unless phasing is one of yer tricks, you ain't going nowhere. There must be a way to open it from inside this room." The dwarf listens to the cleric and takes the funerary baton and begins to search the mosaic of the medusa on the floor in the center of the room.
"Well, didn't expect that...so what do you think happened to them, Brother?" "Like Issi said, it's on another plane, so maybe this is the way in. Pretty dramatic if ye ask me. Well, Brother, let's go in before it closes." Barnabus and the cleric step into the blue light. "And away, we go!"
Barnabus gobbles up the contents of the feast with much gusto, not caring for displaying any sense of manners. Hell, he was going into a trap-laden undead filled tomb, where his next day may be his last, so others' opinions mean little to him. After the meal and some burps and gas passing, he pulls out Grendel, his shiny dwarven waraxe, and straps on his steel shield. He then lumbers forward toward the tomb. When Issi and her mate start checking for traps and the such, he mutters, "Try not get yerself or us killed, now...". While he waits for the duo to do their thing, he looks for enemies from the flanks. He tends to stay 15-20' away from the trap-disablers. After all, he just met these folk. They could be really awful at their jobs, so why should he suffer for their incompetence.
"I'm afraid I can't offer much in the way of magical support." Issi says with a shrug. "My skills are more about making sure we don't need healing. I've got a few potions of flight though. Can the rest of your fly or would you like one? Free of charge to adventuring companions - but if we get out the tomb without using it I want it back!" She ends with a smile, the first genuine you've seen from her since arriving at the mansion. "Free of charge?! Heck yeah, lass! Not done much flyin' in me life. We dwarves tend to stick to the ground. I'l save yer drink for a special occasion. If it's not obvious to ya in my full plate armor, I also ain't one for stealth missions. The dead will hear me comin' a mile away. So if you two lovebirds want to sneak around, wink wink, you will have to do it far ahead of us, so we don't ruins it for ya. And Brother, that meal of yours sounds ideal. Resistances against poison? Sign me up!"
A look of disappointment comes over the dwarf’s face. ”Really, Issi? You had to ruin the fantasy?!” He belts out a loud laugh.
"Brother Terrance it is then." Barnabus smiles at the cleric. Always good to keep the healer on your good side. After hearing the offer, Barnabus grunts. "I'm in. I'll bring you all the books ya want as long as we gets to keep the magic doo-hickeys. However, seems like this is a package deal...Brother and I aren't much good in this endeavor without the trap specialists. so I guess it's all up to the happy couple. What say ye?" Blackrock shifts his eyebrows suggestively, not trying to hide the fact that he thinks Isis and Hassan are doing it.
Barnabas nods at the others present in the room when he enters. "Barnabus Blackrock at yer service. If ya cares to give me yer name, great. If not, I'll calls ya he, she, and he #2." The dwarf moves the nearest seat in his full plate armor and sits down and drinks the wine and eats the food the attendants are serving. When their hostess enters, he stands and bows and smiles at Sylvana. He eyes the barbarian, he presumes, and wonders..Would he be a challenge? I doubt it...they tend to be reckless with little defense. And in battle, defense was what kept you alive. Blackrock dismisses him as a challenge and waits to hear the proposal. "Ma'lady, it's yer delicious food and drink that I'm eating, so no hurries on my part, as long as you get to the interesting part eventually."
Barnabas follows Rufus out of the inn and steps inside of the carriage, his hand never far from Grendel. When he sees the beautiful elven woman, he smiles back, and of course admires her figure in her revealing dress. He was a male after all. "You harm me? The thought never even crossed my mind, hon." The dwarf had faced many arcane opponents in his life and though tricky and elusive, eventually all of them succumbed in the end to Grendel. It did not hurt that Blackrock had years of training in resisting arcane spells. When asked to, he gladly holds Sylvana's wrist. When he reappears in front of the manor, he looks at Sylvana with a little awe. "I do not know much about magic, but I know what you just did marks you as someone of power." Always good to know what type of allies his prospective employer may have. After Sylvana disappears, Barnabas gets into the new carriage for the ride to the manor. When he disembarks, he looks at the fancy manor and the rich nobles. I am sure someone in full plate armor will blend right in at this party! The dwarf chuckles to himself and enters the manor, oblivious to the remarks of the others around him have about his appearance or his race. He quickly stops one of the attendants serving food and tries the shrimp cocktail. He makes a look of disgust after eating it. Venison would have been much better choice! He then waits for someone to come "get" him to finally hear the job's details. He was one for no nonsense.
Barnabas smiles at the coachman, as he grabs the coin purse and tries to calculate how many more mugs of ale he can now afford. "Somethin' told me ma luck was about to change. Lead on, good man. I hope my current attire is to your Lady's liking." Barnabas stands and says goodbye to the patrons of the inn. "Molgrym, be back real soon, as soon as I'm finished with this job."
"Give me another stout, Molgrym!", Barnabas yelled out, as he sat at his table in the Foaming Mug inn in Maheto. Sure, it was only a little past noon, but it was hot outside and Barnabas had rushed inside to escape the heat. He was given wide berth in the inn by the mainly dwarven patrons in the inn, as he was known to be a powerful warrior and not very social. When his drink arrived, he tossed a gp at the serving girl, "That should keep the ale flowing darlin', so keep 'em coming." Barnabas took a gulp of the dwarven ale, savoring the cold taste as it flowed down his throat, and wetting his wild beard in the process with foam, but he did not seem to mind. That was probably the best thing about dwarven ale, besides the taste of course. Priced at 4 cp per stout, Barnabus could afford to buy about 1250 more of them before he ran out of gold! His coin purse was light however...and that worried him. He had spent most of the gold from his last merc job upgrading Grendel, his adamantine waraxe that was one of the finest weapons ever created and his prized possession. Many a combatant had lost his hand or worse his life, if they tried to touch the dwarf's axe. Hell, that was worse than touching your woman. There were many of those around. There was only one Grendel! As he drank his ale, Blackrock looked up from his table to Molgrym, and signaled him with his eyebrows. The innkeeper's ear was attuned to the latest gossip in Maheto and the warrior hoped he would have news of a new job or assignment soon. Blackrock cared little for what it was, as long as women and children were not hurt. He had worked security and protection details in the past, cleared out dungeons for wizards, and helped raid monster lairs, including some dragons. He instinctively reached for the scar under his eye, where that red dragon's claw had almost ended his life. Barnabus smiled, knowing that he now wore its dragontooth as an amulet to protect him from harm. Yeah, he had accomplished a lot in his short 75 years of life and earned a lot of gold. Over 100K worth if you actually took the time to add it. But he had also spent it, on armor and his weapon and his other treasures, as well as women, dwarven or otherwise. But there was still more gold to earn and quick...after all, 1250 stouts of al really weren't that many if you thought about it. Molgrym shook his head no, but his face told the warrior, Calm down, it's early. Don't worry. Barnabus smiled...Molgrym loved him like a son. He nervously looked to the door..he was sure his next opportunity to earn some gold was right around the corner....right?
No need to worry about immediate actions for me. I just cut you with Grendel, me waraxe! :)
No problem, GM. I also made some changes to Barnabus in his stats, gear, and I decided to make him a Weapon Master instead of a vanilla fighter. I fixed his hps and bought the fighter's kit, which includes a bedroll. :)
Hey, Issi! You got me beat on initiative for sure, but it would be interesting! I've spent most of my loot, leaving me with 199 gp. My main weakness is lack of flying magic (those potions of fly are expensive). I added a bow for such occasions, but will look to add flying ointments and such with future gold. I fit your basic tank role in the party.
Reporting for duty! Thanks for the selection! Hello all, look forward to gaming with you!
Here is the rest of Barnabas' story:
Appearance:
Barnabas is 4' tall rock of solid muscle, dressed in shiny full-plate armor. His face is weathered and scarred from his years of battle. He looks like this with black hair and beard and green eyes.
Barnabas Background:
Barnabas Blackrock hails from the dwarven hold of Kravenkus, which stands in the World's Edge Mountains, in Taldor. It is one of the original Sky Citadels, consisting of around 2,500 dwarves protected by a small garrison of only 400. Though his true love was engineering, Barnabas was recruited early in life into the garrison on account of his formidable strength. He helped defend the hold and even venture into the Darklands on a few occasions, battling Darklands creatures, including duergar, mongrelfolk, and worse. He honed his warrior skills during his 20 years stationed there. However, when the mines that once provided the wealth of the Kravenkus dried out, Barnabas realized he was fighting a losing war. Despite these hardships, the dwarves of Kravenkus are proud of their home and refuse to seal the Darklands tunnels, viewing them as a connection to their life prior to the Quest for Sky. Barnabas was more of a practical dwarf and viewed the dwarves' foolish pride as their downfall. Along with many others, he quit the garrison and departed Kravenkus. He was viewed as a coward and traitor, but he did not care: he was a survivor foremost. While many of the dwarves who left sought refuge in the Five Kings Mountains, Barnabaus instead became a freelance warrior (or mercenary some would say), lending out his services to the other races as a bodyguard, acquisitions specialist, and overall hero...as long as the pay was good. He defeated hordes of orcs, giants, and even saved a princess. He will take any job was long as it is within his specialty and does not involve any danger to innocent women or children. He is also honorable and his word is his bond, as long as he is not deceived. He secretly plans, once he has obtained enough gold and skill, to return to Kravenkus to eliminate the Darklands threat to his people. Personality: Barnabus is a gruff veteran of war so he cares for little other than the accomplishment of the mission. He has little patience for stupidity, says little, and is often viewed as condescending by other races. There is some truth to that - Barnabus believes dwarves are the greatest warriors. However, he also acknowledges that their stubbornness and pride are their greatest faults as well.
Here's JD's dwarf fighter: Barnabus. I'll work on the history and appearance and I think I complied fully with the sources' restriction. I still have about 2+K in gold to spend as well as choose another background skill.
"Plan? Bah! We wait for them to get in range and I beats dem with my hammer!" The dwarf belts out a hearty laugh.
"Never fought a dragon either...guess I can test my mettle against them. Dragons tend to have nice treasures."
Barnabus speaks little that first night, as he is battered from the fight in the bar though he does buy Dhavyn all the drinks he wishes fr his helpful magic. He retires early to let his body cure him from the non-lethal damage that he suffered. The next morning, in better spirits, he reports for his chores after a big breakfast.
Barnabus can contribute 100 gp to the fund.
Barnabus, in his fatigued stated, climbs the stairs and then follows the party and the Captain. He has bruises and welts all over his body from the brawl. The dwarf clasps Dhavyn's shoulder as they walk and when the undine looks back, he mouths a "thank you" to him. He moves to the manifest and marks a "BB" on the manifest as his signature. "Ya looking for muscle...yeah I got those. I'm in, come what may. I'm yer dwarf. Barnabus Blackrock at yer service! Though I will need these bruises to fade to be at top shape."
Spit coming out of his mouth, Barnabus grunts and rushes up the stairs, "Thanks for the help!"
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