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Here's a start on Zo's character sheet. As you can see from her Recent Posts tab, a different version of her ran in another PbP for while before the DM disappeared. It was disappointing, because she was a character with secrets, and I didn't even have time to figure out what they were exactly. :)
Rhade will then sheath his blades and draw his bow and an arrow to use next round unless the little beggars find a way round both Zo and Father Meghdad[/ooc]
Swinging her empty crossbow low, between herself and the rat, Zo backs quickly around the table and through the door the rest of the party just came through.
Zo quickly backs away from the door, setting a bolt into her crossbow and taking up a position across the room, ready to fire at anything that might come through to attack. After checking to see that Cordelia is ready, she gives Gregori a nod and waits for him to open the door.
Zo quickly backs away from the door, setting a bolt into her crossbow and taking up a position across the room, ready to fire at anything that might come through to attack. After checking to see that Cordelia is ready, she gives Gregori a nod and waits for him to open the door.
Back with the other group, Zo hears some skittering coming from the southern-most door to the west. It sounds as if multiple animals are scurrying about inside. Animals with four legs and padded paws. "Don't suppose Bargle likes puppies?" Zo mumurs without much hope. "Gregori, there's some kind of animals in here. Let me check the door for traps; then you can open it."
"Not a problem with me," Rhade nods back.
Zo nods, tucking away her tools into her haversack. "Then we should be the group to stay here and wait while Rhade takes the others back around to the east. They already know we're in here, but Rhade might have a chance of surprising them from the other side." She glances at Gregori. "Our knight in shining armor is too easy to hear coming."
"I vote that some of us stay here while the others go around the other side and catch whatever might be here between us. I'll spend less time running around the keep trying to get in a flanking position," Zo says . "We start with the east, since that's where we heard the kobolds. After that we search to the west."
Zo shrugs. "Shiny things, Iggie," she points out to the halfling, indicating the gold and jewelry.
Zo sits back on her heels, regarding the strange contents of the box. "Odd," she remarks. "Has Bargle been exhuming graves? And why? Father, Iggie, Cordelia -- someone want to take a look at these potions?" Still a bit nonplussed by the contents of the chest, she examines its interior more carefully, looking for a false bottom or secret compartment.
Zo takes the chest from Rhade, glances at the table, then thinks better of it and sits down on the floor to examine it, unrolling a collection of shiny prods and picks from her haversack beside her. Perception (search for traps) (1d20+7=22)
"Well, this way," Zo nods toward the eastern doors, "were the hiding kobolds and a door leading downward, where I believe Bargle lies. However, kobolds might not be known for their wisdom, but even they may well have had sense enough to steal away while we faced the harpies. The other way," she indicates the western doors, "we're not sure what we might find, although I expect a mirror image of the eastern side of the keep. Whether there is another door down, I don't know."
Zo takes a cursory glance at the skeletons out of curiosity, being careful not to disturb the plates, to see if there are any indications of how they died.The bones here are from human bodies that have been dead quite some time. You guess these were excavated from a grave, how long ago you can't tell. "Hm." Zo raises an eyebrow. "Interesting interior design choice. These people didn't die here; they were placed here."
Zo takes a cursory glance at the skeletons out of curiosity, being careful not to disturb the plates, to see if there are any indications of how they died. Then she moves quietly toward the eastern doors. Stealth (1d20+12=18) The battle against the harpies created a lot of ruckus; the kobolds might well have taken the opportunity to escape.
Zo quickly glances around to make sure no one (mainly Iggie) is approaching the table. "No wonder the kobolds didn't loot this room," she says. "No one touch the place settings. These plates are covered in yellow mold -- it's deadly."
Coming to herself, Zo quickly glances around the room, surveying the gory scene with a faint blush of chagrin at having been taken in. Swallowing her embarrassment, however, she gives Gregori a quick nod and begins to examine her surroundings, paying particular attention to the place settings and the skeletons around the table. Perception (search for traps) (1d20+7=9) However, she still seems preoccupied by her recent ordeal, glancing over her shoulder at the chimney -- and at the others.
"You can say that again, where's the rest of the audience or the bar for instance?" Rhade nods back briefly confused but then focuses on the singing. "Shhh!" Zo reprimands Rhade and Iggie crossly, before returning her attention to the lovely sound.
Did we do racial hit points in this game? If so, I guess I need to subtract 6 hp for Final rules. It's a shame to lose Father Meghdad. His character had such an intergral tie to the mission, it'd be hard to write him out.
Gregori updated Oh HELL YEAH!!! Whooo! Go Team Paladin! Smite those harpies! :)
Think I have Zo updated to Final rules now. A lot of trouble to go to just to get eaten by a harpy. ;)
"Not her ... but like her," Zo sighs, as she settles into her place at the feet of the heavenly creature, a look of serenity not untouched by sadness on her face.
Zo suddenly stops thinking about tactics, and her face takes on a distant, puzzled expression. "That sounds like.... But she died so long ago.... It can't be," she murmurs as she approaches the fireplace to look up the chimney.
There are no kobold tracks in here. The room seems undisturbed. "No tracks," Zo points out. "And I saw none in the other bedroom. So how did the kobolds get in there? Maybe up the stairs? Which means there must be another set going down..." She looks at Gregori. "Be wary. This keep has more secrets than it seems."
"Watch out for that fireplace in case there's another giant bat waiting,"Rhade points out. "Just don't lose your new dagger again," Zo tells him before returning her attention to the room. "We should avoid the table until we've taken care of the kobolds. They came through here without suffering any ill effects, but the table is also undisturbed. No need to fight kobolds and undead at the same time -- or to find ourselves caught between two enemies when we've gone to some trouble to do the same to the kobolds."
Zo brushes her fingers against Gregori's armor and nods toward the eastern doors. "The kobolds have to be through one of those doors. Now's the time for some of us to double back if we want to trap them," she murmurs.
Gregori opens the northern door, confident that Zo made sure that it wasn't trapped. It opens into the middle of a rectangular, 30' by 15' room. A long wooden table occupies the center of this room, surrounded by a dozen plain wooden chairs. Human skeletons, wearing the rags of fine dinner attire, occupy four of the chairs. On the table in front of each chair sits a golden dinner plate, accompanied by a dusty glass goblet and dull silverware. A large stone fireplace looms in the north wall opposite you. Zo lowers her crossbow. Even if the skeletons animate, her bolts won't be much good against them. Curiously, she contemplates the skeletons, murmuring to herself, "...murdered by the man in the fifth chair?" There is no trace of horror or disapproval in her voice, merely curiosity.
As the paladin approaches the door, Zo takes up a position to one side and quickly loads a bolt into her crossbow.
Oblivious to Rhade's machinations, Zo pokes her head back into the bedroom. "We have two options going this way: the way the kobolds went, through the other bedroom and hallway, and a door straight ahead from the entrance, heading deeper into the keep. No tracks that way."
Reexamining the central hallway (to the west of the room you are currently in) reveals what you had spotted before: kobold tracks going between the entrance to the south and the other bedroom to the west. Zo also notices a closed door leading to the north from here. No tracks lead that way. Zo goes ahead and examines the closed door, looking for traps. It's always good to have options about which way to go, especially when you might be in a hurry later.
Zo peers out into the central hall; she has been through it twice but was in a hurry both times and didn't take the time to examine it.
"A place of safety seems reasonable and wise, to my mind," Iggie says" and the bed does seem to be more restful than it would otherwise seem... And while I cannot make those of us less than gifted with stealth any more stealthy, I can make one of us significantly faster for a brief time once, or cast a magic mist that obscures vision so as to better surprise the fiends. Of course, they can most definitely use it against us, as well!" Zo nods in acknowledgement. "Let's find out what Rhade sees; his eyes are sharper than mine. Then we can try to circle around the other side of them." She gives Gregori a glance with a touch of sympathy in it. "I don't expect this will prove too long a delay. There can't be much left to this level and certainly nothing that slowed the kobolds down until they got back to that room."
"My vote is for clearing out this level before we head down. I don't like the idea of anything potentially sneaking up behind us from up here and I think we need t a t least establish a clear zone in case we need to rest somewhere. Up here seems a better idea than down there somewhere." "In Iggie's magic bed?" She frowns. "If we really want the kobolds dead, I wouldn't come at them from here. Right now, they think the zombies are still blocking their exit this way; if we come through this door, they'll just flee the way they came -- and they know their way around this place better than we do. If we could be certain of being reasonably quiet," with a doubtful glance at Gregori's armor, "we should go around the other way, through the unexplored half of the keep. Then, ideally, some of us should double back this way to cut off their escape. If we really want them dead," she concludes with a shrug.
Zo creeps back down the hallway to her friends so quietly they are almost startled at her reappearance. "We've got stairs going down and a room to the north with kobolds in it -- the ones that got away from us in the courtyard, I think. They seem to think they're trapped in there. They've avoided this room because of the zombies and don't know we've destroyed them." Zo pauses. "Bargle is below us," she states matter-of-factly. "I'd bet Iggie's last gold piece on it. He doesn't seem the type to room with kobolds. And I don't think the two in that room are brave enough to try to come down behind us or warn Bargle. I don't think there's much left to this level -- the mirror-image of this side, probably, and maybe a room in the middle -- and it's all been overrun by kobolds. So," she concludes, "do we take out those two in the room and clear out everything aboveground or head below?"
Zo turns back to her companions and holds a finger to her lips for silence, then motions with both hands for them to wait there. She edges cautiously toward the open doorway, straining her ears to make out what the kobold might be saying.
Zo relaxes visibly when the halfling arises unharmed from the transmuted bed. Finding the bracelet still in her hand, she looks confused for a minute, makes a move as if to slide the bauble on, then glances at the paladin and stows the jewelry in her pack instead. Nodding to Rhade to join her, she glides toward the exit to the northeast and peers carefully around the corner. Perception (looking for creatures or major features) (1d20+6=21)
Zo frowns, the bracelet hanging forgotten from her fingers. "Transmutation? That means that the bed isn't really a bed, right? What would want to look like a bed ... other than something that would like a nice, tired, trusting, defenseless person to lie down on it?" She backs away slowly, her hand creeping toward her scimitar.
Zo rolls her eyes slightly as she bends to look under the bed. "Didn't know you had a fear of beds, Rhade. Jealous husband hiding under one once?" "Here Zo take a gander at that!" Rhade says as he tosses the bracelet to Zo. Barely was the quip out of her mouth when she turned to catch the lovely bauble. For once, she seems at a loss for sarcastic words, turning the bracelet over in her fingers. Avoiding Rhade's gaze, she finally holds it out for her companions' perusal. "Father, Cordelia, Iggie ... any magical aura to it?"
Zo you see any reason to stick around here?" Rhade asks her. Zo shakes her head. "Not if we're looking for Bargle," she replies. "Not unless you think he's hiding under that bed you just sent Iggie under."
Having peered back into the room just in time to see Rhade deliver the final blow, Zo nods in approval. As the party pauses to breathe and regroup at the end of the combat, she reports what she noticed about the next room. "No sign of kobolds on this side of the keep; their tracks all go in the other direction. Could be they were avoiding the zombies -- or something else. So we have a decision to make: follow the kobolds or see what they were afraid of."
Zo peers back into the storage room, wondering how long her companions are going to take with this second zombie. ;)
Remembering the trail of kobold footprints leading through the other bedroom, Zo glances at the floor to see if they come this way as well -- or if any other creatures have been making tracks in the dust.
"So how many of those crates bear that symbol? Its just that if each held one of these critters it might give us an idea on how many Bargle had delivered here," Rhade comments as he continues to evade his opponent's blows. "You think the undead were transported in the crates rather than that one just being a convenient hiding place?" Zo asks. "If Gregori can take down that last one, we'll count the boxes. With any luck, some of them have been taken out of commission by other means. Maybe these two are the last of Bargle's supply."
Hoping her allies have the second zombie well in hand, Zo turns her attention to the bedroom through which she just cut, watchful in case the noise of battle attracts the attention of kobolds ... or anything else that might be waiting further inside the structure. However, she can't help but be distracted by her friends' melee nearby.
Tossing the plaster out of her hair, Zo springs forward with her rapier, striking at the zombie. Damage & sneak attack damage (1d6=6, 2d6=9) for a total of 15
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