Moving the Heavens (Group 2 IC Thread)

[Tsumeken]

Anyone who got the envelope:

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By following the instructions, you arrive at a warehouse near the ports in Dolimier. Boxes are stacked high in all the corners as very dim lighting provides some illumination. You had been instructed to wait here and that your host would be there shortly.

Anyone who heard about the tournament:

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The fairgrounds are particuarly heavy with the peasantry and knighthood and anyone else looking to fill their pockets with prize money or merely a day with mirth. You easily find the registration desk for the tournament. There appears to be a line so you will have to wait your turn.

[EdroGrimshell]

Nyan walks into the gathering, hidden under her common disguise as an elven woman (reinforced by the elven bow she carries) and looks for a spot to sit. Once she does she sits and draws her knees up to her chin, resting her head on them and waiting patiently for the arrival of this "host". Likely as not he already knew she wasn't an elf, and she hoped this wasn't something to trap her.

[Shade Kerrin]

'Jenn Tanner' stands atop a box in the warehouse, regularly making a cutting motion against the air with his scythe - as if he were performing a combat drill. Of course, anyone with actual experience can tell that his form is off - and that he's trying to perform sword drills with a scythe. He's been at this for hours, not quite comfortable with bringing his new cover identity in to public, and not having anything better to do. He looks up as the elf(he thinks) approaches, watches her for a few moments, before deciding no, she's not smug enough to be the writer of that letter. Relocating his slightly oversized weapon to his back, he nimbly jumps down in front of the lady. "Good Morning to you, Jenn Tanner at your service."

[EdroGrimshell]

Nyan shifts her gold eyes to the halfling, letting her eyes roam over his form until she was satisfied he wasn't an immediate threat. "Most call me Nyan Goldeye," she says, keeping the same position as before, arms folded under her knees, chin resting on them, and hair hanging into her eyes, acting much like a veil. "Pleasure to meet you," she says with a small smile, tilting her head slightly, making her seem innocent and shy rather than the much more ambitious cat she really was.

[Shade Kerrin]

"Oh no, the pleasure is all mine." 'Jenn' smiles on the inside, this girl is clearly too naive to even suspect he is under an illusion, let alone try to dispel it. "You here because of an annoying letter too?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"Yes," she says, "I don't know where it came from, i just woke up and it was there," she continues, shifting slightly. "You can take a seat if you'd like."

[sean_hyer]

The door nearest the two swings open, and a slim figure strides in. Although his hand rests on the three-pronged weapon slung on his back, he smiles.
"So, you two have also been summoned as champions?",

[EdroGrimshell]

Nyan perks her head up to scan the new arrival, much the same way she had with Jenn, including the slight tilt to her head, he seemed the warrior type, useful. "I'm not sure on 'champion' but i was told to come here via envelope."

[Shade Kerrin]

"Champion? No, I'm just here to resolve an annoyance."

[KingOfLaughter]

Gor, as he calls himself, stands in line, hunched and shirtless, he liked being shirtless, showing his tattoos, his scars, his... Uniqueness... He waited for the line to move, growing impatient with these slow, and probably drunk, humans.

[Tsumeken]

Inside the warehouse:

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A trap door opens in the middle of the room. It seemed to be carved out of the floor and showed no hint of being there previously. A cloaked man climbs up out of the hole before replacing the trap door. "Very punctual." He looks around, taking in all that there is to see in the warehouse before turning back to the others. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Szak and we were hoping to find a few people of notable talents to pull a job that we need done."

Waiting in line:

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As you're waiting in line (the first person to post after this one), is bumped into by a rather well-groomed looking human male. He is clad in a silver mail which lacks a helmet and has a very broad axe strapped to his back. "Watch where you're going,, peasant! These roads are reserved for warriors not some bar room brawlers." He then tuns and walks away. This is seen clearly by all who are in line.

[EdroGrimshell]

Nyan's pupils turn to slits for a second then she asks what she was sure was on everyone's mind, "What kind of job," though she asks it far more innocently than she would if not in her human persona, not letting her suspicions surface.

[Shade Kerrin]

Yes, what kind of Job? asked Jenn, clearly seeing that he would need to be the one to point out how suspicious this seemed. My brother wouldn't be happy if I did anything shifty, you know.

[sean_hyer]

Although seemingly unshaken by the man's sudden entry, Brand scans the shelves and ceiling of the warehouse, hand again on his trident, looking for any other unexpected entrances.

Finally, he turns back to the newcomer, and voices his concerns.
"I must agree with these two.
What job are we going to perform "Szak", and why do you need us to do it for you?"

[Tsumeken]

In the warehouse:

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Szak pauses for a moment before answering,, "It's simple enough. I work for an organization known as The Dark Sun. We're a guard under the King and have reason to believe there's a plot set against him at this festival. We have two possible places of interest. One is the tournament itself, the other is what we called you for. Underneath the town square, there is a cavern. It was naturally formed so it might just be bad luck. However, it takes place directly under the fair grounds. We believe there may be an attack from either above or below ground but the guards should be able to deal with whatever happens at the tournament. We need you to make your way to the cavern and just watch it. If nothing happens, easy job. If anything does happen to occur, I trust you'll be able to take care of it."

[KingOfLaughter]

Gor glares at the man, then turns. "High and mighty bastards." Gor looks up the line, They need to hurry up...

[EdroGrimshell]

"Reconnaissance? Sounds fun."

[sean_hyer]

"I think we can handle that. If you could give us a way to contact you, you could get the King out if things go sour."

[Shade Kerrin]

"Yeah, I'm willing to sign up for that."

Jenn smiles a little. This...employer already knows a little bit about him, so if this turns out to be a setup, he has no problem with letting 'Koreten' run loose.

[Tsumeken]

In the warehouse:

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Szak walks back over to where he came in, opening the entrance. He leads you down through the tunnels into a large open cavern. There are many spaces where you could hide and prepare ambushes. He points to three exits, one to the south, one to the west, and the one you just came from in the east. "The east path is the only way out so you only really have to observe these two exits. And just so we're clear on things..." He reaches down into his pockets, pulling out two rectangular gold cards, handing one to each of you. "Each of those are worth 1,000 gold coins. That's half of what you will get when this is done."

Outside:

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After being registered, you are all given a number and told that you all will be entered into battle against another opponent when the time comes. "These are non-lethal battles, meaning you fight until someone becomes unconscious." The man at the desk signing you up seems to stress that point forward... maybe too much as he continues to note the entries.
(For now, you can either go to the waiting rooms for the tournament or look around the fair grounds. There are basic entertainments among other options should neither of the first two appeal to anyone.)

[sean_hyer]

Brand stares hard at the man, hiding his confusion.

"There are three of us, sirrah. I fear you may have forgotten something..."

[Shade Kerrin]

"Guess I fall a bit below your line of sight? Don't worry, I prefer all my payment in one load, anyway."

[KingOfLaughter]

Gor simply glares at the man, thoughts running through his head, but then he walks, heading into the waiting room, muttering "This just got a lot worse, now I can't even burn them... Stupid rules..."

[Tsumeken]

underground

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Szak notes the small goblin, "Ah, terribly sorry about that little one, but if that is the way then your full sum shall indeed be availible on completion of the job." He then turns to the group and decides to la out the details for you "About an hour will be all we need of you, afterwords you can leave back through the way we came. The rest of our pay will await you above. We have no idea of whether this will happen or not, but we expect groups of underworld denizens such as dark elves and their kin ma wish to cause chaos." He looks upward as if hearing a sound to high in pitch for the others to hear, "I must be going now, enjoy the rest of the festival when you finish."

at the tournament

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the numbers begin being called as all present move forward into battle.

~30 minutes later~

underground

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The time of boredom comes to an end, the sound of a cart can be heard coming from the southern tunnel as a wagon drawn by a large cave lizard is pulled into the room. The driver keeps his/herself hidden under full cloak while the cart has tarp over it covering the contents.

at the tournament

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(for the sense of moving into true fights as opposed to arena fights worth no xp I am going to push you guys into the finals.)
The fights have been fun and rough sometimes as it has narrowed itself down to only a few of you left. the announcer comes over to the tent smiling. "Well well well, it's sure been one hobknicker of smackout to be true." The small halfling seems to be a excitible little feelow who's speech could be somewhat questioned as a loss of sanity. "We decided to have a large battle royale between you all for the finals, adds a bit more zingpow to it all I'd wager! We'll be coming to the pass in a few moments so take this time to check your knickers and knockers so they be ready to sockers!" With that rousing line of nonsense he leaves.

[KingOfLaughter]

Gor readies his morningstar, and growls, "If I can't roast some of these idiots I'm roasting that damned announcer..."

[sean_hyer]

Brand hisses at the stranger's appearance, then mutters quickly to his companions:
"I suspect a trick. Stay here, and watch the other tunnel - but be ready to help! Halfling, you may wish to come closer - it's a long run for a little man."
He then casts Longstrider and walks towards the cart, holding up his hand for the driver to stop.
"Halt!" he cries, first in Common, and then in Elven.

[Shade Kerrin]

Maybe if he was really a halfling he would follow this advice, but 'Jenn' simply stood ready to act, knowing he could move as fast as any human

[Tsumeken]

Underground:

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The driver jumps as you approach, seemingly spooked by the fact that someone else is here, let alone that they approached. He quickly looks around before spotting Brand. He reaches down, pulling hard on a lever where the brake would usually be as something in the back of the cart shoots up. It appears to be a large ballista. It seems aimed upward as the bolt fires. It shoots into the ceiling before it starts drilling,, causing the ground to shake.

Tournament:

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As you all stand ready for the signal to begin, the ground begins to shake. The spectators look around, hoping to find the source before it's revealed. A large metal spike drives it's way through the center of the arena. It begins to pulsate as you see glowing runes on it's blades.

[sean_hyer]

"Well, there goes our bonus!"

If the ceiling is low (<15 ft.)

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Brand races to the center of the cavern, and makes a running jump, trying to catch ahold of the base of the drilling bolt:
Jump: [roll0]
Catch hold (Dexterity check?): [roll1]

If the ceiling is of medium height (<25 ft.)

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Brand races to the center of the cavern, and makes a running jump. At it's peak, he throws a furled net at the bolt, hoping it will snare on something:
Jump: [roll2]
Net attack: [roll3]

Otherwise:

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Brand shouts and leaps at the driver. "Coward!"
Charge attack: [roll4]
If it hits:

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The magical prongs of the trident slip through the figure's defences, before Brand rips the blades back out to ready them for another thrust:
Damage: [roll5]

If it misses:

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As the three-pronged weapon glances harmlessly away, Brand curses and readies it to stab again. "You won't escape this time."

edit: What is wrong with my rolls? Rolling actually (and not cheating (Wow! 18, 20, 18)):

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Jump: 26 (So I can reach it if it's up to ~14 feet above the ground) (or ~24 for the net)
Catch: 24 (natural 20!)
Net: 28
Attack: 19
Damage: 6

[KingOfLaughter]

Gor roars in rage, his draconic side showing through.

He shouts in draconic, "WHAT TRICKS ARE YOU PLAYING!?" his scars start to glow red, and his skin seems to be turning red.