Toma: the City After the War [IC]

[RS14]

Dawn breaks slowly above the eastern hills. You have survived your first night in the ruins – uneventful, temperate, and as comfortable as can be expected of any place which deals in rock. The structures looks somewhat worse for wear in the dawn light. Between the holes in the thatch roof of the warehouse and the scrap lying in the yard, your mine looks abandoned far longer than would seem likely. It is just the same as last night, save for the tents – a visitor might now mistake it for a circus of vagrants. No, that's not quite right. There's one difference, hardly visible in the dawn light, but significant now that this plot of land is yours. A light shines in the warehouse window, thin and shaky, but a light nevertheless.

[hr]

As for the mine itself, it is approximately one acre in size (180ftx180ft), features two buildings: the warehouse, with a small shack attached, and a canteen, currently shuttered. The warehouse is an enormous building, featuring three large carriage doors on the Eastern side, a small door to the south (All locked), and a short set of tracks to the mine shaft, located just to the north-east of the center of the plot. A hexagonal roof covers it from the rain, and also provides cover for anyone operating the large, mechanical winch and pulley system. There is a ladder along the side of the shaft, but the large cage hanging above it looks as if it was used to hoist workers more often than not. Either way, the water now reaches to within 15ft of the top. Nobody will be descending soon.

A road runs East to West just to the south of the mine. Some wagons are out on it already, some even hauling ore. The buildings all around seem fairly nondescript warehouses, though to your immediate west lies a walled off compound with no apparent buildings. The only topography of note is the small increase in elevation to the north-east, into which the mine-shaft crane has been dug.

Map:

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5ft squares. Contour lines represent 3ft elevation, increasing to the north-east.

Characters:

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{table=head]Player|Character|Character Description

Chineselegolas|Kithzin|Githzerai Rogue/Monk

Ryuuk|Telma Abrica|Human Psychic Warrior

Snowfall|Mourdin Forge|Dwarf Cleric

Solophoenix|Varwann|Whisper Gnome Beguiler

XenoGeno| Urk Redshirt|Orc Paragon/Barbarian
[/table]

OOC thread.

[Ryuuk]

Telma

The surface of the waters in the mine shaft was beginning to send off a few small ripples. These could have gone unnoticed at first, were it not for the fact that they were getting larger. Eventually, with the faint splashing of water, a tiny creature emerged, climbing along the rock wall. “Almost there…” It moved slowly and diligently, taking great care to only grab hold of the most secure pieces of rock. It resembled some sort of black spider, not a live one really, but some sort of decorative obsidian tarantula with very little attention given to the finer details.

“About time…” As it finally crawled out of the shaft, the first thing it saw was a familiar human sitting down by the crane and starring directly at it. She looked young. Short brown hair, just long enough to cover the length of her ears and touch the bottom of her jaw, framed a misguidedly gentle expression. She lowered one of her hands to the ground in an open palm, and the spider obediently climbed aboard.

“So how’d it go?” The little creature seemed to respond by with a jitter, but it remained silent. “What do you…?” Telma’s look changed to confusion, disbelief, But you where down there for more then an hour what were you doing? disappointment Just “had a look around” but you were supposed to… and finally acceptance. Fine, fine, next time I’ll explicitly say, “look for air pockets”, I got it

With a touch from Telma’s hand, the small spider’s legs suddenly reverted back into its body. The small piece of obsidian-black crystal stopped moving. With a sigh, she shoved it into her pocket, stood up and started on her way to the warehouse.

[Solophoenix]

Varwann

Varwann yawns and stretches as he awakes to the small ray of dawn slicing into his tent through the entrance-flap. The gnome arises and pulls back the flap, wincing slightly as the full light strikes his eyes. He stands at the entrance and surveys the area, catching sight of an oddly flickering light in the warehouse window. He calls out to the others.

Rise and shine tall folks! I think someone's trying to move in on our claim!

[Snowfall]

Mourdin Forge

Mourdin turns at the sound of the gnome's voice, looking away from the window he has been silently studying for the last several minutes. "So much for surprising them" thinks the dwarf, but then he shrugs, sometimes it was better to let the unknown know you're coming.

Mourdin had woken up as usual, before the sun, spending his early morning moments communing with Heironeous. He still wore the chain shirt that he always used as his night clothes, and had been debating putting on his armor when he noticed the light in the window. Now with axe in hand and shield across his back, he makes his way across the camp site to his companions.

He still didn't know much about them, but months fighting underground during the war had taught him the value of being open to new friends, and besides, they had worked well enough together bringing down the land scam. Plus Mourdin's intuition told him to trust them: the magic user, the monk, the blacksmith, even the giant warrior... of whom Mourdin has his suspicions, but that his gut told him to trust.

"Good morning, Varwann" Mourdin greets, "Looks like this site needs a little more cleaning than we thought it did." Gesturing with his head towards the light in the window, he adds "Shall we get the others and take a look?"

[XenoGeno]

Urk Redshirt

Hearing Varwann's shouting, Urk wakes up, and grabs his sword. Pausing for a minute, he adjusts his hat, and focuses on the illusion he has been using, a human warrior from far-off barbaric lands, large but otherwise indescript. Opening his tent, he looks at the gnome.

"Whatizzit? Whuz goin' on? Who's tryin' ta take our claim?" he says, stifling a yawn.

[Solophoenix]

Varwann

"Makes no sense to let them get comfortable up there. Ideas on how to approach it? Perhaps if we let Telma send her spider-thing up to the window to have a peek inside, and give us an idea of what we might be facing? I'd hate to barge in a a bunch of guys as big as-"

Varwann hears Urk's sleepy mutterings

"-...him, unprepared."

[RS14]

Note: The warehouse is a single story building with a high ceiling. The windows are close enough for the ground (4ft) for all of you to look through, although they are filthy with dust, cobwebs, and grime on the inside. If you choose to peer through a window...

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Two figures are barely visible by lamplight. Both look too tall to be Dwarves. They are at the northern end of the room now, and appear to be walking in slow circles. One carries a lamp

Darkvision provides a +4 circumstance bonus to spot, Low Light Vision +2.

Spot DC 4

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The large shapes along the west wall look like piles of earth or rock. Given the absence of outside light, the south door is probably still closed.

Spot DC 9

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The intruder with the lamp wears full armor and carries a flail. His companion appears unarmed.

Spot DC 16

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A large, gently-glowing lizard follows the two figures.

Spot DC 26

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A shorter cloaked figure is crouching beside a pile of ore to the south-west corner of the room. He has no light.

• You might choose to smash a window, decreasing all spot DCs by 2.

[Snowfall]

Mourdin

"Hmmm, why don't we go take a look."Mourdin walks carefully over to the window and attempts to see inside.

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spot - (1d20+7)[24]

[Ryuuk]

Telma

"Morn-... There's someone in the warehouse?" Telma was just arriving at the campsite, having decided to change to her day clothes before taking a better look over the rest of their claim. She was just barely noticing the light in the window. The news caught her by surprise.

Part of her saw the irony, realizing that a psicrystal really is one of its master's dominant traits. The rest of her tried to ignore this first part as best it could and instead worried about getting to her equipment. She agrees with Varwann though, and she hastily digs her hand into her pants pocket and pulls out the small black crystal. She taps it and drops it a few feet beside her, where it catches itself with its newly formed legs. She gives it a piercing stare, You heard him, get a look inside and find out where that light's coming from, and don't look for a candle, you know what I mean.

The little spider seems to nod at the mental command and scurries off to the window, while Telma keeps herself busy putting her greaves and breastplate on over the pants and buttoned overshirt she used to sleep with. Lastly, she picks up the peculiar crystal blade she'd picked up during the invasion. She wasn't satisfied with her armor, feeling she'd donned it too hastily, but just tries to follow the others as soon as she can.

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Just going to have the psicrystal go up to the window. If it can't "see" anything within its 40ft sight, it'll just try to get in like most other rodents.
Spot: (1d20+6)[14]

[Snowfall]

Mourdin

Turning from the window, Mourdin whispers urgently to his friends, "We've got trouble." and he describes quickly what he had seen. "We need to find a way in there. Where's our stealthy friend, is he up yet?"

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OOC: Meant to post that as an edit after the spot roll rather than double posting, but didn't do it in time...

[Solophoenix]

Varwann

"I believe I am the stealthiest among us actually." whispers Varwann as he walks up to stand beside Mourdin. He stands up on his tip toes to get a glimpse through the window to see for himself what Mourdin described

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Spot (1d20+9)[24]
This is assuming the bonuses for darkvision and low light vision do not stack, otherwise it's +11.

EDIT: And just at the threshold too

"So what's the plan? You want me to sneak in for a closer look? I'm not too sure how well that would work with opening a door. Although if it's the full charge we want, those locks won't be any problem for me. Perhaps we should wait and see if the spider can sneak in first. If that doesn't work, I have a spell that will tell us what these fellows are thinking."

[RS14]

The little crystal spider ignores the conversation around it. It pauses only briefly at the window before making its assessment, and it proceeds across the sill and up into the eaves.

Inside the warehouse, the light-bearer sets down his lantern. He gestures, says a few words, which are completely unintelligible from where you stand, and with his companion begins to climb one of the shadowy peaks of rubble along the west wall. Stones cascade to the floor in a clatter. He maintains his balance, but only barely, and only by clawing at the slope with his hands. At the peak, both seem to disappear into the rafters. The absence of lighting makes it impossible to distinguish any structure.

OOC:
Do not stack Darkvision and Low-Light vision for the spot checks, as the figures are within the range of Darkvision.

[Chineselegolas]

Kithzin

Standing up, his morning mediation complete, Kithzin walked over to the others, his robes flowing strangely round his inertial armour.
Peering through the window, he watched the strangers inside disappear into the rafters
"I'm for the sneaking plan, but knowing what we are facing is always of use."

[spoilerspot - (1d20+8)[11][/spoiler]

[Snowfall]

Mourdin

The dwarf thinks for a moment, nodding his head.

"Let's see what the spider has to say, but we don't need to wait on the locks." Mourdin turns to Varwann and says, "You, Urk and I can head to the south door and see if you can get it unlocked. Kithzin, you've got good eyes, keep watching what's going on while you wait for the spider. Signal us if we should go in hard or soft by waving high or low. If things get dicey for us in there..." the dwarf grins, "come through the window."

Looking down at himself, Mourdin realizes he hasn't had time to switch his chain shirt for his armor, so he says a quiet prayer to Heironeous for protection and then waits for Varwann to lead the way.

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Casting magic vestment on his chain shirt (+2 to AC, 5 hours)

The above is all assuming the party is not on the north side of the building.

[XenoGeno]

Urk

Urk stands behind the rest of the group and glances through a window and grins.

"Alright, I have dibs on the lizard. Anything that glows is sure to put up a good fight, right?"

[Solophoenix]

Varwann

"OK then, let's get going"
Varwann leads the way around to the south door. Reaching into his magically enhanced pack, he retrieves his set of thieves' tools and attempts to open the lock on the door.

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Taking 10 on the Open Lock check for a total of 16. If he is unable to get the door unlocked with that, he will return the tools to his pack and cast Knock

[Ryuuk]

Telma

"Glowing lizard?" Telma squints her eyes as she peers into the window (1d20+5=6). She was starting to worry about her sight, but this wasn't really the best time to delve too far into it. As she backs off, she sends a few more orders to her envoy. Good, follow them and stay out of sight. Keep me informed on what they're doing.

Telma steps back slowly and tries to spot a pair of heads (9) above the warehouse (if she sees anything, she'll hurry back to the side of the warehouse so that they don't spot her). "It says they're climbing onto the roof... What the heck are these guys doing?" As the group gets going, she follows, her eyes still scanning the roof.

[RS14]

Mourdin, Telma, Urk, and Varwann hustle to the south door, keeping their heads down below the windows as a precaution. Kithzin remains at the first window, but warehouse remains as dark and inscrutable as ever.

Even from the south end of the building, nobody can be seen on the rooftop. No ladders have been abandoned here either. You find the south door unlocked, however. The large padlock which secured it last night has not been harmed, but has been hung on a small brass hook beside the door. The door will swing inwards with just a strong shove. Will you go in "hard" or "soft"?

[hr]
OOC:
The roof is fairly steep, thatch, and peaks at the middle. Anyone on it would be hidden from at least one direction.

Yes, I was assuming you were on the east side. I thought I'd marked your tents on the map near where the rails are. Sorry for not catching that sooner.

[Solophoenix]

Varwann

"Alright, it doesn't look like Kithzin has seen anything new, so I say we stick to the soft approach. Do one of you want to go and check the roof? I have a spell that will let you climb right up the wall with no difficulty...you're not going to like the way it's cast though."

[Ryuuk]

Telma

Really? OK, just keep an eye on them for now. Warn me if they try to leave the warehouse. Telma felt like she was trying to solve a puzzle while blindfolded and while someone whispered instructions in her ear. Nevertheless, it started to make some semblance of sense. She tightened her grip on the blade on her side though, she didn't like the conclusion.

"You might want to hold onto the spell Varwann. They stopped bothering with the roof. It says they're back on the loft and... talking to someone about how they "missed their chance". Unless the lizard can talk we're dealing with at least 4 trespassers." She looked a bit preoccupied, splitting her attention between the planning, her crystals recon and drawing her own conclusions.

[Solophoenix]

Varwann

"Alright then, soft it is. I'll slip inside and see if I can find out a bit more than the spider. If you hear me yell...or Kithzin come crashing through the window, we'll switch to coming in hard immediately. Otherwise, if one of you waits by the door, I can use a message spell to relay any other information"

His plan explained, Varwann as quietly as possible, slips through the door and into the warehouse, leaving the door ajar just enough for a message spell to reach the others. On entering the room he looks around, his vision now unobscured by grimy window.

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Hide - (1d20+19)[30]
Move Silently - (1d20+15)[22]
Spot - (1d20+9)[29]

Spot roll is assuming I still get a +4 bonus for darkvision
Assuming there is no obvious sign that he has been detected, Varwann will whisper through the door to the others:

"You know, I've just had a thought. The lock was undamaged, they're talking about 'missing their chance', and if they were intending to sneak around, they didn't do a very good job of it. What if these are the original owners of this mine, and we just got here before they could claim it back?"

[RS14]

Varwann slips through the door silently.

Telma, Urk:

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It sounded as if he said something a moment after shutting through the door. The words were brief, just one or two sentences that you couldn't make out.

[XenoGeno]

Urk

Urk hears a few meaningless words, and turns to his companions.

"Did any of you catch that? All I heard was 'Whisperwhisperwhisper,' and I'll be damned if I know what he meant. Should we go in after him?"

[Ryuuk]

Telma

Despite of all that had been happening since she'd started her day, she felt slightly relieved from Urk's comment. At least my hearing's fine, unless its some kind of contagious deafness. She thinks about the question for a sec before answering.

"Heard something too, couldn't make it out either. Well, I've got a feeling that whoever in there nows there's others here. Lets give Varwann a few more seconds, then go in hard. If anything, we'll give him distraction."

While they wait, she draws a long, slick looking crystal with a blue hue. As she closes her eyes and concentrates, the hue becomes a dim glow and she seems to grow a few inches taller. She shares this glow with Mourdin and Urk before putting it away. "That should help, shall we?" She places her hand on the door, ready to push it open as soon as the others are ready.

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Used three charges off her Dorje of Skate (think a psionic wand). Mourdin, Urk and Herself get a 15ft boost in movement speed for a bit less then a minute. This doubles when going downhill and drops to +0 when going uphill.

[Snowfall]

Mourdin

Despite the grim situation, Mourdin smiles, "Thanks Telma, a boost in speed never hurt me."

Pulling his shield off his back, he nods, "Let's go. On the count of 3."

"1... 2... 3..."

[RS14]

OOC: Rolling initiative to resolve order of events.

Varwann 16
Kithzin 12 (unaware)
Telma 10
Urk 10 (Delays for Telma's action, goes immediately after)
Mourdin 9

[hr]

Varwann:

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Without even a blink, you still the air around you, deadening all outside sounds in an instant. The Dwarf seems to focused on you to notice the sudden absence of audible footsteps on the planks above.

On Mourdin's count, Telma throws the door open hard. It slams against the wall wooden wall of the warehouse without the slightest sound. She dashes in to Varwann's left, coming face to face with a thin, young, black-bearded Dwarf who was just moments before staring up at Varwann from beside a large pile of mithril ore. He wears chain, a large mithril shield, and a leather bandoleer, upon which his hand rests. Urk follows just behind her and flanks Varwann to the right. Mourdin follows, but with little space to maneuver he halts in the doorway.

The trio has just a fraction of a second to survey the room - Just enough to note the large rock piles along the western wall, the lantern in the middle of the room, and the crude loft of wood planks laid down the center of the room across the rafters. The room appears otherwise empty, although the far end is still shrouded in shadows.
[hr]
OOC: I'm going to pause right in the middle of this so you can detail actions for the first round. Varwann has already taken his action, but Telma, Urk, and Mourdin have only moved about 10ft and can complete moves and then take one standard action. As the Dwarf was already alert following Varwann's entrance, no surprise round occurs. Kithzin will act on the next round, on initiative count 12. The Dwarf will act on initiative count 8.
No talking - All but Kithzin are in the middle of a silence effect.
While the open door lights much of the room, there are still some areas shrouded in shadows, which grant concealment.
Map:

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Same colors as you use to post. The Red circle represents the Dwarf.

[Ryuuk]

Telma

Telma feels somewhat off. Part of her mind pitches the idea of contagious deafness again, but it's largely ignored. There were a few, more important things to worry about. The most important of which was a simply question: Where were the others? No lizard, no larger intruders, not even a response from her psicrystal.

She sends a few mental pings, hoping for an answer, but honestly her mind was working on something else. She waves her arm in front of her before gripping her weapon tightly and watching the dwarf's every move. She didn't know if it worked without its usual hum, but if things were as she thought, she'd find out soon enough.

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She'll finish her move in B3 and manifest Force Screen. Her AC should be at 23, taking into account the hastily equipped breastplate.

Also, that is a very nice map you got there, much more detailed then th ones I usually see in play by posts anyway.

[XenoGeno]

Urk

Urk tries to yell out a war scream, and doesn't realize nothing's heard. While he's not in a true blood rage, he is still getting quite worked up, to the point of nearing obliviousness.

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Urk moves to the closest available square next to a dwarf, and attacks. If by the next turn the dwarf is still alive, Urk moves to the closest available square and attacks. If the dwarf is not alive, Urk moves to the next closest target and attacks. If the lizard is seen, and Urk can reach it in one move action and without recieving attacks of opppurtunity, he heads for that regardless of whether someone else is closer or not. Here are my rolls.

[Ryuuk]

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Doh, I forgot about the rounds in advance. Here it goes again:
Round 1: Move to B3, Manifest Force Screen

Round 2:
- Join Urk in beating him down, but try to knock him out: (Attack: +7 AB, -4 nonlethal, +2 Reckless Offensive) (Damage: 2d4+4, +2d6 Psionic Weapon), 5ft step Away and try to recover Psionic Focus (DC 20)
Round 2
Nonlethal Attack, Damage, Psionic Weapon, Recover Focus (1d20 5=8, 2d4 4=6, 2d6=6, 1d20 13=31)
Swing and Miss... Focus is Back though

Round 3:
- The Dwarf should have been reduced to a smooth paste judging by Urk's rolls. If not she'll try the above again in hopes of leaving someone behind to explain. Only difference would be a 5ft step in rather then out.
Round 3
Nonlethal Attack, Damage, Psionic Weapon, Recover Focus (1d20 5=23, 2d4 4=9, 2d6=8, 1d20 13=21)
Round 3
Crit Confirm, Damage (1d20 5=12, 2d4 4=8)
- If the Dwarf is already down, she'll attack any target of opportunity, giving priority to those in the light. The above roll would work, but she wouldn't be able to recover her focus, instead moving to the foe.

Speaking of which, almost forgot concealment:Round 2: Concealment, Round 3: Concealment (1d100=47, 1d100=15)

[Chineselegolas]

Kithzin

Round 1
Move to stand in front of window

Round 2
Turning to peer in the window to see how his companion were doing, Kithzin noticed the dwarf about to engage them, and then pointing his hand at the window used his innate energies to shatter it, tumbling though ready to help his companions (M9)

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Use first of my three daily uses of shatter to break the window (I could just punch it, but where is the class in that?...)
And Darkvision 60ft. From my vantage point can I see anything extra