Archon's Way of the Wicked.

[Zweanslord]

With fear Amber looked at her own brand. She swallowed and breathed heavier. The laughing Caleb had put her on edge. Trying to discern a deeper meaning to the brand than marking her a prisoner here, suddenly a realisation seemed to hit her, which left her gasping for air for a second.

Wincing, she gritted her teeth. Looking up at Caleb after he is freed, doubt draws on her face as he claims everything she heard about Asmodeus is a lie. Frowning, he interest seems to be piques. Her mouth opens slowly as she has a questioning, curious expression. But then she closes her mouth, hearing how the price will be a favour. She cannot help but sigh of relief.

Turning to listen to Mira she considers her words and gives a nod in response. Looking at Caleb again, she clearly states with a look of determination: "I'm coming too."

[Farmerbink]

"Damnit, boy, let me loose!" The Half-Orc hisses. "I'll flay those guards and sear their bones if they try to interfere!" He looks around incredulously at the rest of the group, largely unarmed and entirely unarmored.

With a quiet hiss, he blinks and his pupils take on the vertical slits of cats and reptiles. With a grin, he displays suddenly-sharpened teeth and raises his hands. Wicked-looking claws have replaced his fingers. Thick, muscled, and covered with blood-red scales, they look more than capable of rending flesh from bone- giving no small measure of credence to his words. After a few seconds, he shakes his arms as if to relax his muscles and blinks. His pupils have returned to normal, and the scales coating his hands have disappeared.

He stares at Inigo intently, breathing heavily. "Loose. Me."

Spoiler: OOC

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That will be one of the 8 rounds per day that he can manifest claws. I suspect we'll be armed soon enough that they won't all be needed, and to be frank, his wisdom isn't very high.

Related, feel free to not have your character respond strictly as the skills say he should. For the sake of a frame of reference, here's the intimidate check (without any circumstantial anything for being part Dragon). (1d20+13)[23]

[dathom]

Cringing as his tool clinked and rattled against the metal manacle, Inigo breathed a quite sigh of relief when he realized that the guards hadn't heard his mistake. Continuing his work, he moved over to Amber as he whispered in response to the belligerent half-orc. "Save your ire for the guards their half-orc. And don't call me boy, unless you look forward to facing the pyre youself."

As he continued to work the locks, he simultaneously continued vocalizing the ideas he had for an escape. "Somoen keep an eye out for any guard movement. Those who are free will need to slip back in the manacles quickly so that the guards aren't tipped off."

Disable Device - (1d20+10)[23]
Disable Device - (1d20+10)[15]
Disable Device - (1d20+10)[23]
Disable Device - (1d20+10)[19]

[Farmerbink]

The Half-Orc's glare turns entirely flat. He responds "Be careful who you insult-" His lips twitch as if trying to decide whether or not he'll say more. For a few seconds he remains silent, as his hands clench and relax spasmodically. "You won't be lighting any pyres anytime soon."

Spoiler: OOC

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That strikes me as a decidedly unreasonable response to that kind of display of power and intimidation (compared to none of any sort from anyone else), but it's your character.

[CasualViking]

Caleb
Caleb find a pair of breeches and a tunic in the pile of fresh clothes, and quickly changes out of his rags, trying to twist and contort himself to preserve some modesty. He wraps a coil of rope over his shoulder, hangs a pentacle pendant wrought in chain-motif silver around his neck, and sets a bullseye lantern down next to the two unclaimed daggers.

"Oi! Half-orc! Are you any kind of fireproof?", he shout-whispers.

"Inigo! You wanna sneak up on the guards, or do you wanna unlock Grumblejack?".

[Zweanslord]

Amber Tash

Amber was happy she was not chained next to the tusked man, or half-orc. Shying away from the man with scary teeth and claws with a frightened look, she swiftly went out of her manacles when Inigo freed her. Almost tripping over the red-haired woman next to her and she tried to move another step away from the half-orc, not wanting to stand between Inigo and him, as Inigo had favoured freeing her before him. "Thanks." She whispered to Inigo, while offering an apologetic nod towards the red-hair woman who she had almost tripped over.

Looking surprised at what Caleb manages to reveal, she then moves to the corner of the cell closest to the exit, following Inigo's instructions to watch for guard movement. "They still haven't brough food, so we need to be careful." Looking at Caleb and the objects he had produced, she voices her worry towards Caleb. "You sure we shouldn't have waited until the cover of night?" A moment later, she adds out of curiosity for the odd request: "And uhm, why fireproof?"

[archon_huskie]

"Oi! What's that then in there?" One of the guards calls. There's the clank of the lock turning. A guard is coming in.

Grumblejack throws a human skull across the hallway with a shout. "Hey! Grumblejack sing. Grumblejack smash. Grumblejack dance and make the guards wet pants. "

"It's just the ogre. another new voice calls. We're under orders to let it tire itself out. It will eventually starve itself and we can drag it out later."


You don't hear the second side of the conversation. You hear what follows.

"OF COURSE it is inhumane. Those bones are the bones of the two guard who got him in that cell. He eats people!"

Grumblejack laughs as he hears them talking about him.

"you owe grumblejack more than a beer now."

[dathom]

Holding his breath as he heard movement from the guards, Inigo was about to dart for the dagger when Grumblejack suddenly threw the bone across the room. Stopping so that there was no other sudden movement from the spry man, Inigo slowly and silently let of his held breath as the guards went back to what they were doing. Turning his head and giving Caleb a look that stated, "Does that answer your question", he went back to work on the locks freeing the other cell mates. Taking special care around the half-orc, Inigo prepared to spring back in case the arsonist decided to lash out.

Once the others were free, Inigo whispered, "Might be good to avoid any unnecessary shouting, unless you want the guards to come in before we are ready. After what the ogre did, I'd say he's a bit smarter than we first thought. I am all for a stealthy approach, but that doesn't mean we can't bring him along...so long as we can come to some form of understanding with the beast. Anyone good with words interested in talking to it?" As he spoke, he went over and took up one of the daggers, before heading over to the cell door and got to work unlocking it, figuring that with Caleb already dressed in the new clothes, waiting any longer to form a plan and find the opportune time would do them more harm than good. "Once we are ready to move, we can lure them in and I can attack from surprise while others simultaneously charge." Once the cell door was unlocked, Inigo bundled up the tools and slip them under his prison rags.

Spoiler: Rolls, actions and OOC

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Disable Device - (1d20+10)[18] to unlock the cell door. Sleight of Hand - (1d20+8)[24] to hide the tools. Note, Inigo will take a dagger, unless there are any objections. Also, I did have my reasons for responding the way I did to the half-orc's intimidation and happy to discuss this in private chat with you Farmerbink, if you would like.

[Farmerbink]

The Half-Orc smiles when Grumblejack lobs a skull. "An ally, indeed," he quips, straining against his chains to get a look at the beast. When Inigo comes by to unlock his gauntlets, he remains still, but struggles (and ultimately fails) to hide a smirk of entertainment. He makes no particular move to the more suitable clothing until one of his cellmates points out the problems being seen in public (assuming they escape) in obvious prison garb. Begrudgingly, he snatches a folded pile of clothes and strides forward in the cell to get a better glimpse at their oversized neighbor as he dresses.

"Might be good to avoid any unnecessary shouting, unless you want the guards to come in before we are ready."

"I am ready," the sorcerer interjects. He lets the man continue talking otherwise. From his vantage by the cell bars, he peers at the Ogre, getting his first good look.

"Oy, Ogre. We mean to be free of this pitiful prison. If we loose you from that cell, will you fight with us?"

Spoiler: OOC

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First attempt, generic diplomacy: (1d20+5)[25]

Edit: hot dang, that's a convenient time for a nat 20, no? I'm guessing the below contingency is unneeded... which is probably good. Even successful intimidates against ogres are unlikely to end well....

If that fails, he'll go for intimidate, raising his voice slightly and claiming his Draconic ancestry (He won't waste another round of claws just talking- the Ogre will have a chance to see that soon enough). (1d20+9)[11] (counting -4 penalty for being a size category smaller than he)

[Hellfire014]

She doesn't rub her wrists when freed, but instead stares forward with annoyance. "...g hate being bound." you hear her mutter under her breath. With a sigh, she rolls her shoulders, cracks her neck and back, and does a couple stretches. "Right. So how do we want to do this? Free Grumblejack first, then take the guards out? Or do we want to take out the guards ourselves, and come back with a peace offering of 'food'? Not sure which he'd appreciate more."

Spoiler: OOC

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Genuinely curious to see how long Gail can go without giving her name

[archon_huskie]

Everyone is now unchained and free to get dressed or not get dressed.

The pile of clothing contains 10 shirt/tunics, 4 a Maroon, 6 dark green. The current style for tunics in Talingarde is for the tunic sleeves to be to the elbow, and the to be knee length on both men and women. A belt is worn over the tunic. there are 6 belts included in the pile along with 5 pairs of pants and 5 skirts. The skirts are of varying length and all a saddle Brown. The current style for women is calf length. The pants are all Slate grey it is common for peasants to roll the cuffs of their pants so length is not important. Both pants and skirts have drawstrings. There are 9 pairs of sandals with the clothing, flip-flops really.

This clothing represents common clothing found among the lower rural classes. Except for the flip-flops. Those are super cheap and would only be worn inside.

Grumblejack smiles and says "Grumblejack promise to fight guards and eat guards. Grumblejack promise to not fight you and not eat you."

[Ionbound]

Mira wastes no time getting dressed, and nods to Inigo, saying, "You'd best be ready to put those daggers to good use here. Or if not, give me one so I can use it. Because I, for one, am confident we can take down the guards without putting my neck on the line by freeing a cannibalistic ogre."

[dathom]

With it looking like he gang would move ahead soon, Inigo slips on a change of clothing, stating, "Fine, we can figure out the ogre once the guards out there are taken care of. If someone is keen to follow me, then we can take position near the door so that when the guards come in next, we are ready to spring." Dagger in hand and once they have free roam of the room, Inigo then moves over to take position near the entrance to the cell block and keeps out of sight from the guards as he does.

Stealth - (1d20+8)[28]


OOC: With that roll, Inigo has become one with the cellblock ;)

[Hellfire014]

The other redhead also wastes no time replacing the offending rags with something more comfortable preferring the maroon over the green.

She decides to wait to for everyone to get ready before taking a position.

[Ionbound]

Mira nods to Inigo and says, "Just say when. I'll cause a distraction."

[Farmerbink]

The Half Orc, now dressed in simple gray slacks and and a dark green tunic, makes no attempt to hide his surprise when it becomes apparent that they won't be freeing the Ogre. In hushed, incredulous tones, he whispers (hoping to not be heard by the Ogre), "You have the chance to make allies with an Ogre and you squander it?? He already 'took care' of two of the guards!"

Shaking his head, he retreats near the door of Grumblejack's cell. "I will try to see you freed, large friend. It may take some time." Scowling he turns back to his cellmates and the door that leads from the cellblock. With an unhappy look, he shrugs to Mira. "Distract away."

[Zweanslord]

Amber Tash

Startled, Amber looked how the human skull flew through the hallway. When she heard that the skull belonged to the former guard, she shivered a moment. She looked at the others, realising that if the guard did want to come here, they would have little time

With everybody getting dressed, there would be no denying what they were planning. So she quickly moved to the clothes, took out a maroon tunic, a saddle brown skirt of the stylish length, a belt and slipped in the sandals as she exchanged her rags for the clothes.

For a moment Amber looks between Mira, who wanted to let the ogre where he was, and the half-orc, who had just convinced the ogre to fight along and not fight, or eat, them. She squeezed her own hands together, glancing between them, biting her lip for a moment, but then clearly deciding not to say anything about the subject at the moment.

Looking around for only a moment extra, she then looks at Inigo before hefollows Inigo, hoping she will be of use alongside him. Gently placing her feet on the floor, she carefully tried to be silent as she moved in a crouched position towards the door. She tries to take up a position behind Inigo where she can hide, but with a clear reach towards the door to use something like say, a cone of fire burning from her hands.

Stealth: (1d20+10)[24]

[Ionbound]

Mira nods and says, "I'll take this as a majority vote." She steps out in front of the door and calls out, "Hello, boys! Is this a violation of prison policy?" She rattles at the bars, and should one of the guards come too close, spit in their face.

Spoiler: OOC

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Using my Antagonize Feat to drive the guards into a wild rage and force them to attack me: (1d20+7)[13]

[Hellfire014]

Hearing Mira call out, the other redhead scrambles to get into position.

Spoiler: OoC

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Stealth (1d20+4)[17]

[CasualViking]

Caleb hunches over in a wrestler's stance.

[archon_huskie]

I have created a map of where everyone is based on where they described themselves in their posts.



"Mitra's eye!" cries one of the guards. "She's outside of her cell."
"Let's put her back in her place! says the other one. drawing their clubs and entering the cell block to attack Mira.

Because they have been antagonized, they are forced to make an attack this round. As I read the description of the feat and the notes in the book, that means they don't have time to pick up their shields, or arm themselves with their swords and/or ranged weapons. They leave their shields, swords, and bows in the guardroom.

Combat will be starting. roll initiative and declare your actions.

[Hellfire014]

Spoiler: OOC

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Initiative (1d20)[7]
I will likely wait until Gail's turn to act, most likely start an Inspire Courage.
the map needs more jpeg

[Zweanslord]

Initiative: (1d20+3)[12]

Spoiler: Initiative suggestion

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Perhaps at the start of next combat you, archon_huskie, roll all our and the enemy's initiatives at once? That would certainly speed combat up compared to each of us rolling for initiative and only after everybody having posted the first round can start. That is, if the others agree with this suggestion.

[CasualViking]

Initiative: (1d20-1)[7]

Spoiler: Cunning Plans

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If the guards are still flat-footed when I'm up, I'm going to move up and grapple one of them: (1d20+5)[19]. Otherwise, I plan to hang back and let the guys with claws, spells and daggers handle this.

[Ionbound]

Mira smirks as she notes the guards leaving their weapons behind. She looks at one and says, "Really? Do you not know who I am? Do you not know how many anonymous soldiers I've killed over the years? Look at you, you don't even have a name tag. You've got no chance." With that, she takes a step back into the cell, trying to lure the soldiers in one at a time.

Spoiler: OOC

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Initiative: (1d20+1)[16]
Demoralize Check to make the nearest guard Shaken: (1d20+7)[20]

[dathom]

The dagger feeling almost comfortable in Inigo's hand, he keeps it hidden behind his back to keep any reflection from giving away his position and waits for his opportunity to attack.

Spoiler: Rolls and actions

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Initiative - (1d20+4)[5] As soon as a guard steps through into striking distance, Inigo will attack from stealth, hoping for a sneak attack. Sneak Attack - (1d20+4)[11] Damage - (1d4+2)[6] Sneak Damage - (1d6)[4]

[Farmerbink]

The sorcerer mostly looks on from the back, curious to see how well his newfound companions manage themselves. He walks forward slowly, carefully assessing the way the guards fight.

Spoiler: The guy, Round 1

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X
M CE Half-Orc Sorcerer 1, Level 1, Init 1, HP 9/9, Speed 30
AC 11, Touch 11, Flat-footed 10, CMD 14, Fort 3, Ref 1, Will 1, CMB +3, Base Attack Bonus 0
Claws +3 (1d4+3, x2)
(+1 Dex)
Abilities Str 17, Dex 13, Con 17, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 20
Condition 1st level spells: 5/5
Claws: 7/8

(1d20+1)[2] initiative

move forward (but not past the blue dot)
ready an action to use my claws, if a guard enters threatened space
(1d20+3)[14] attack
(1d20+3)[7] CC
(1d4+3)[6] dmg
(1d4+3)[4] tentative crit bonus

Spoiler: Initiative suggestion

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I fully support Zwean's suggestion. My own late posting is a great example of how long it can take for something as trivial as initiative. Please feel free to roll initiative for us, and then tell us who gets to act first ;-D

[archon_huskie]

I will be making a post on Sunday. For now I have to go to work. (yes a Saturday shift)

[archon_huskie]

I have created a OOC thread.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...5#post22328455

Now I sleep. cause I have a 8AMshift now instead of a 3PM shift.

[archon_huskie]

Mira backs up as the guards enter. So focused on Mira are they that they don't notice Inigo or Amber. They walk right past them leaving the door opened. In the guard room, their swords, bows and arrows and shields are leaning against the wall by the stairs. The first guard scowls as Mira's words stike home. He had forgotten his name tag. The Sergeant's discipline was relaxed on this issue and he only demanded full Class A Uniform for the Warden's inspections and scheduled visitors. He swings overhand bothered and distracted at this dig at his professionalism . . . and fumbles . . . He slightly adjusts his grip on his club before attacking. And he manages to smack himself on the back of his head. He sways back and forth before crumpling to the floor. His club rolling to Mira's feet.

Gail begins her bardic performance granting a +1 moral bonus to her allies attack and damage rolls. (assuming she's reciting an epic poem or speech to use her Perform: oration and using Perform Dance would require her allies to have line of sight and Mira and Caleb have their backs to her.)

Caleb approaches Guard 2 and initiates a grapple. This provokes an AoO for Guard 2, he swings and misses as Caleb puts the guard into a headlock. Guard 2 stuggles as he still must make an attack on Mira with his club. He swings his club and barely misses the red haired warrior.

With Guard 1 on the ground, and Gail's words in his ears, Inigo has no trouble finding a spot of exposed flesh, free from the links of a chain shirt to slide his dagger in. He severs a vital artery and vein in the neck and the Guard begins to bleed out. Guard 1 is dead.

X walks forward away from GrumbleJack's cell.

Spoiler: Initiative Order

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20 Mira Demoralizes Guard #1 with a quote from Austin Powers 3
15 Guard 1 Goes to club Mira but clubs himself 4 non lethal damage knocked prone dropped weapon
12 Amber no action
7 Gail
7 Caleb -Grapples a guard if flat-footed Guard 2 has not acted. Caleb grapples Guard 2
7 Guard 2 goes to club Mira, misses.
5 Inigo – sneak attack Guard 1 hits because guard is prone and kills Guard 1 because of the +1 from Inspire Courage
2 X – moves forward but not past Caleb no guards enter his threatened space.