The door seems to flex under Ghirraks blows, absorbing his first punch altogether and splintering a little under his second.
Reflex save:
Spinnaker Jon twists aside just in time as a body plunges past him.
"Who's that screaming?"
Reflex +3=5 Distracted by the tracks in the muck...Bindlplotz fails to react to the danger...
"OI!"
Bindlplotz looks up at the scream, only to be flattened as a body lands on top of him.
Crush damage:
(It hit the shaft a couple of times on the way down.)
Groaning a little, Bindlplotz turns his head to stare into the dead face of Shefton Rusk; the half-elf who gave you the map to this place last night. His throat had been cut from ear to ear, and blood was still pumping from the wound, amost covering the Ranger.
Spinnaker Jon looks up from the scene below as a shadow blocks out the light above.
"Ah, all the loose ends tied off together. Let me help you with that." The man you have only seen in a portrait on Lavinia Vanderboren's wall flashes Jon a smile and cuts the knotted rope.
Reflex save:
Acrobatics check:
"AAAAAAH! Look out below!"
"Hey there. Your sister's worried after you."
"Oh no," Annie cried, running up to the half elf and Bindleplotz. She pulled out her holy symbol and called upon Cayden Cailean for healing.
She quickly checked everyone over to take in their state.
"You're an awful brother!" Annie cried out with rage, "Treating your sister so badly! Murdering people! What would your ma and pa think of you!?!" She clamped her lips tightly, knowing her outrage would probably do nothing but amuse a man that could slit another person's throat so casually.
Hearing the crash Ghirrak heads back to the entrance and looks up to see Lavinia's brother.
"I'm going to come up there, and break your worthless neck," he says calmly.
"Ugh, get this corpse off'n me! 'ee's bleed'n all o'er me"! As Bindlplotz struggles under the weight of the corpse
REFLEX +2 +2=5
See, pinned under the corpse...HAHA
(I hate 1d20, I like 2d10...bell curves are good)
Annie twists aside as Spinnaker Jon hurtles out of the shaft and lands on Bindlplotz. Fortunately for both, Shefton Rusk absorbs half of the energy of the fall.
Damage: to both Spinnaker Jon and Bindlplotz.
The severed rope slithers out of the shaft after Jon and piles on them both.
Vanthus grins down at you.
"Now, now; no need to worry about the family. I'm here now, and we certainly don't need the likes of you."
The stone lid begins to grind close, the overcast daylight beginning to narrow and dim.
"And give my regards to Penkus! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha..."
The stone lid grinds shut with a thump of finality, leaving you in absolute blackness.
Annie tried to hide a sniff and scrubbed the tears from her eyes with one hand as the tunnel darkened before opening her hand and shedding the light of her shell throughout the area. She looked down at Rusks face and felt a stab of guilt - if she hadn't been worried about taking him, he might be alive right now - unhappy and trapped with them, but alive. Suddenly she looked up as Vanthus' other words struck her. "Penkus! He's not in here!" She dropped the shell as she ran suddenly back toward the door, shoving past her companions. "He must be on the other side of this door!" She threw herself against the door as hard as she could.
"Dis here's no good. No good at all."
"Step aside Annie," Ghirrak rumbles at he backs up a bit. As she moves he begins to charge forward, launching into a flying kick at the door.
Spinnaker Jon throws off the pile of cut rope, then rolls off the pile and stands up.
He rolls the body off of Bindleplotz and helps him to his feet.
"Bindleplotz ye'r bleedin'! Terrible sorry about landin' on ye laddie, ar ye' all right? Ye want Annie t' take a look?"
Jon waves his hand a speaks a word, and a dancing light appears over his head. A second word and a small tornado starts circleing Bindlplotz cleaning blood and grime off of him.
That door is surprisingly resiliant.
Permission to panic: Granted.
Perception check
"That fella's kinda evil. Ah don't know if Miss Lavinia really should have him back."
Perception:
Knowledge (Engineering):
"We gotta get out of here!" Dgrim screams. He runs up to the door and digs the balls of feet into the ground, heaving against the door.
STR:
Annie watched with wide eyes, still suspiciously moist, as the usually taciturn dwarf suddenly yelled and charged at the door. "What's gotten into him?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and sniffing. She suddenly frowned and looked over her shoulder. "And what's that smell coming from?" She wandered a couple steps back toward the shaft and her eyes widened. She looked wildly back over her shoulder and saw that the door had begun to move with Dgrim's stubborn push. "Oh Cayden, move, move, get out of here - he's using black powder up there!" she cried at Jon and Bindlplotz, then bent down and pulled on Rusk's still form. "I may not be able to save you," she growled at the body, "But I'm not leaving you to be buried in a manner of HIS choosing neither!!" She pulled the body as quickly as she could toward the door.
Ghirrak's eyes widen. He takes a deep breath and unleashes a lightning fast palm strike to the center of the door, with a roaring kiai.
Break attempt
Spinnaker Jon sniffs the air like the others.
Perception:
"Whats all the ruckus about? I don't smell anythin'."
Seeing Annie dragging the body, he goes to help.
"Let me give ye a hand lassie."
With a grunt, Spinnaker Jon grabs the other shoulder and lifts.
"Bindlplotz! Shake it off and bear a hand here! Get 'is feet laddie."
The door would have fallen to either Dgrim or Ghirrak; but with both together the door explodes off its hinges and flies across the chamber beyond in several splintered pieces.
I think I speak for us all when I say that we hurry through the doorway.
Bindlplotz shakes off the fall, easy to do now that he's filled with holy energy. He quickly slings his shield and jostles his rifle to one hand, and help Annie with her load.
Oim mov'n!!...oim mov'n!!...I could use a puff o' pipeweed af'er dis 'ere turn o' events." he puffs
"Right y'arr lassy...Annie let's move afore th'roof be coming down on us."
Craft (alchemy) +5 +5 =21
Ghirrak goes in ahead of the others, his darkvision combing the area for any sign of a threat.
The party spills out into the space beyond the door, which turns out to be a larger hallway. It is some ten feet wide, 40 feet long and ten feet high, constructed of slime covered brick with a barrel arch. There are closed double doors at each end.
Here is a map.
You may make a single move from the doorway at (N,16), post where you end up at in standard (X,Y) coordinates.
Annie, Jon and Bindleplotz carrying Rusk's body make it to the doorway when there is a muffled THUMP, and the ground leaps under your feet. There is a brief moment when it feels like you are being squeezed by a giant, then Annie, Jon, Bindleplotz are ejected into the hallway in a cloud of dust and fall prone automatically. The rest of you must make a Reflex save DC15 or fall prone.
Ref save
When the floor jumps, Bryson crouches down and rests the bottom of his shield on the ground to help keep him steady. As the dust settles, he looks to see if Annie is ok then makes sure everyone else is safe as well.
Annie picked herself up off the floor slowly. When Bryson offered her a hand she tried to murmer her thanks, but coughed in the billowing dust instead. The coughing fit sent her stumbling back into the wall, and she leaned against it for support as she recovered. As soon as she could breathe normally she pushed away from the wall and looked at her companions, looking for injuries.
She groped for a pebble from the debris still settling after the explosion, and said another prayer to Cayden Cailean, causing the stone to glow. She raised it and looked up and down the wide corridor they found themselves in. She pointed toward the door that stood open. "It's easier and if something nasty's in there, better to find out now than have it trail us." She didn't bother keeping her voice down - anyone who hadn't heard that explosion was deaf anyway. She set off toward the door, drawing her rapier and holding the stone in her other hand as she strapped her shield back on. "I don't like what that Venthus said about Penkus. Judging from poor Rusk's state, it can't be good for him." No one else was going to die today, if Annie could help it!
After a minute, you hear some rumbling and thumping as another jet of dust comes out of the passageway into the hallway.
It's odd though; that stuff is rare and expensive. Where did he get it?
Reflex:
Dgrim curses loudly in dwarven as he hits the ground. Frustration is setting in with the usually calm and contemplative nobledwarf. "Somebody's gonna share this in this suffering," he mumbles, standing up.
Knowledge (Engineering):
The sound of the collapsed rock coming from the shaft adds to his anger. "...sounds like that corrupt bastard spent all his family's money on explosives." Dgrim walks over to the doors on the left (K-15), and foregoing caution, immediately tries to shove them open.
STR:
Dgrim shoves at the doors (J&K,14&15); only to find they give just a little, but dont open.
K(Engineering):
As Annie slips through the broken doors...
Here is the Map.
Annie holds up her light to get a better look into the room, peering into the shadowy corners.
"These doors are barricaded by something. We'll have to go the other way." Dgrim draws his axe. "There looks to be someone or something else down here. Be on guard."
Spinnaker Jon gets up and chases off after Annie. He moves to (R,15).
"Now lassie, don't be goin' off by yer lonesome!" He peers over her shoulder at the next room, his Dancing Light circling him slowly just overhead...
"These doors are barricaded by something. We'll have to go the other way." Dgrim draws his axe. "There looks to be someone or something else down here. Be on guard."
"Roight" Bindlplotz replies, as he pulls the hammer back on his musket, and attaches the bayonet. "Now this 'ere moight be a bit loud in this corridor..."
A supernatural wave of fear washes over you as out of the flickering shadows lurch three figures. Clearly dead, these walking corpses wear decaying clothes typical of sailors. As they stumble up to you, their jaws open horribly wider and wider, revealing row upon row of jagged teeth....
Here is the Tactical MAP.
Everybody make a Will save (fear) DC10 or Shaken; as they hear a series of scraping/shuffling sounds and low, bloodcurdling moans.
Zombie Pirate 1 bite attack on Annie:
Damage if hit:
Zombie Pirate 3 grapple on Annie:
Automatic bite damage if hit:
Surprise!
Initiative rolls please.