The Fatal Syzygy

[KingRexII]

^ The guard is blocking the exit to the room, and no one can get out without engaging him somehow.

[GimliFett]

Vykurullus

"I will be your captive NO LONGER!" the hobgoblin bellows after he mutters a few arcane words and briefly maneuvers his fingers. A white-blue glow surrounds his right hand as he steps toward the man and tries to grab him.

Spoiler

cast Shocking Grasp: MeleeTouchAttack - (1d20+5)[19]; +3 in in metal armor or carrying a lot of metal; Damage - (2d6)[7]

[Weezer]

Uriel

Uriel quickly darts forward, looking for an opportunity generated by his allies to hit a vital location on their captor, when he spies one he throws a quick jabs at a vital spot.

Spoiler

trying to get flanking for SA, unarmed Attack: (1d20+5)[24] Damage: (1d3+2)[5] SA damage if applies: (2d6)[8]

[Gavin Sage]

Seeing action explode Layla backed up on guard. Releasing her spell Layla readied to assist but took no action. She was no combatant and the last thing they all needed was for someone to get in the way. Besides her strongest abilties were sharply limited. One outnumbered guard didn't demand a spell... yet.

[KingRexII]

OOC: Going the violent route, eh? In that case, roll initiative for anyone trying to do anything combat-y. I'll give a standard action for the surprise round since the guard is bit pre-occupied, looking somewhere else. This means Uriel should easily be able to squeeze by to get that flanking position, and I'll rule that Vyk's close enough to make that touch attack in the surprise round. GS, you can revise Layla's surprise round action given this new information, otherwise, I'll stick with your action. If the guard survives the surprise round: Init - (1d20+1)[18] (just to give you a chance to post your first round action if you roll ahead of him).

[Weezer]

Spoiler

initiative: (1d20+3)[18]

[Toliudar]

Bala

It had been quite some time since Bala had had to punch someone, let alone someone with unknown capabilities and holding a sword...and it wasn't QUITE desperate enough for that yet. Instead, she was content to stand behind and try to distract him.

Hey, Ugly! I make that first explosion to be a fireball. Or was it plain black powder? Either way, sounds like we're the least of your worries, huh?

[GimliFett]

Vykurullus

Spoiler

Initiative - (1d20+3)[23]
I hope the assault is okay, KingRexII. Vyk's not willing to explore that he's been abducted and kept prisoner (with his things lost) for a good-natured reason.

[Toliudar]

Spoiler

In case it becomes relevant later, Initiative (1d20+2)[12]

[MyriadSouls]

Vimath

Spoiler

Initiative: (1d20+0)[19]

[KingRexII]

OOC: I've got Vyk's and Uriel's surprise round. MS, Toliudar -- please provide surprise round actions (if any). GimliFett and Toliudar -- please give first round actions too since you guys have an init greater than the guard.

[GimliFett]

Vykurullus

The hobgoblin swipes a drop of sweat from his brow and carefully mutters arcane words and gestures, causing his hand to glow with an indigo luminescence. He stretches forward for the guard once more. "Do you yield? he inquires of the man.

Spoiler

cast Touch of Fatigue: TouchAttack - (1d20+5)[12]; Fort DC13 negates.
CastDefensively - (1d20+12)[16]

[Gavin Sage]

Layla

Spoiler

(1d20+2)[8]

Taking no action in the suprise round save for a readied action to punch someone that comes near. The attack bonus is +3 and damage 1d3+1 if applicable or I'll make a roll.

[Toliudar]

Bala

Bala capers and waves at the rapier-wielding guard. She edges closer, sidling through the door if possible.

Hey, doorknob, I'm over here. Focus! Now, can you kindly explain what you meant to accomplish by kidnapping all of us.

Spoiler

Both surprise and round 1 - She is moving slowly through the doorway, in such a way as to avoid AoO's. Standard action will be, essentially, trying to bluff him - effectively a feint on behalf of Vyk's attacks, trying to put him off balance and distract him for both Vyk and Uriel.

(1d20-2)[9]
(1d20-2)[15]

[MyriadSouls]

Vimath

Vimath looms over the frightened man, anger at his captivity burning in his eyes. He reaches out to grab the man in an attempt to force him into submission.

Spoiler

Vimath will initiate a grapple attempt. As far as I can gather, he is still standing directly in front of the man, so he need not move anywhere to get into position (if it turns out he does need to move, instead of all of this stuff he instead just moves to right in front of the guy). The man gets no AoO.
(1d20+7)[23] - attack roll for touch attack to initiate grapple
[roll]1d20+2+5+4[/roll] - grapple check to start grappling the guy
(1d3+7)[9] - unarmed strike damage from grappling
...and if I am interpreting this correctly, Vimath would also be in same space as the man. I also rarely use the grapple rules so here's hoping that was all right

[MyriadSouls]

Spoiler

Apologies for double post. Apparently you can only throw one modifier on a roll; didn't know that.
(1d20+11)[12] - grapple check

[KingRexII]

Surprise Round

Vyk reaches out and touches the metal-clad man, and the electricity arcs from his fingertips and disappears past the guard's brown robes. He jolts slightly as Vimath grabs him, but he is strong enough to shrug off his advances. Uriel and Bala squeezes past the big man and the guard into the corridor outside. They see...

Spoiler

... to the right of their cell's exit (relative to someone inside the cell), the hallway extends about 50' where smoke and rubble can be seen. The hallway makes a 90' turn in the direction away from the cell. A symmetrically, but not-exploded version, can be seen in the other direction. The walls and ceilings are just like those in the cell -- white and bright with light. The hallway is 20' wide. You can clearly hear the sound of swordplay, magic blasts and yelling coming from either side.

Layla draws back her arm, ready to strike.

Round 1
Mostly ignoring the prisoners so far, he finally answers Vyk's question in a courageous voice: "Never!" He even laughs when the hobgoblin barely misses. His smug grin fades quickly, though, as Uriel ducks a rapier swipe and delivers a fantastic haymaker right in the kisser. The guard falls unconscious with a thud.

End of round - 300 XP for all

==========

Anyone walking out of the cell can read the spoiler above. Also -- sorry for missing Vimath in Round 1, but the rolls were favorable for Uriel, and I knew it would end combat, so I just went with it. My bad for not calling for it earlier.

[Toliudar]

Bala

Bala grins hugely as Uriel punches out the guard.

Looks like they grow em tough in Nefulel. Hey, everybody. There's some kind of fight going on out here. What say we go the other way?

Bala seems about to do exactly that, but pauses to pat down the guard. Keys might be handy. Or some kind of clue as to what in the world was going on.

[Weezer]

Uriel

Uriel quickly searches the guard for anything useful and picks up the rapier Many thanks, any of you mind if I take this?

[Gavin Sage]

Layla

Seeing the action finish almost as soon as it begun Layla let down her readied fist. Moving forward the elf dragged the unconcious guard back into the cell while Uriel searched him.

"Before we go anywhere we need to secure this guy. I don't want him waking up and immediately running for more guards," She said to her fellows.

With that she joined Uriel in searching the guard, looking for means to tie him up. She also checked the man's clothing, looking for pants and a shirt. Layla didn't exactly mind dresses, but they simply weren't as practical. The last thing the elf wanted was to be worrying about the skirt of the blue dress she had on tangling in a run. Any other clothing could make a sevicable binding. Though it would be better in strips.

"Hey big guy, you look the strongest here," she said to Vimath, "If you could tear up either this guys robes or a some of the bedrolls to make some bindings and a gag."

[MyriadSouls]

Vimath

Looking at Uriel, Vimath nods his okay.

"I don't fight with toothpicks. Too easy. To break. You using it. Fine with me."

He then turns towards the unconscious man, and following Layla's advice fashions some crude bindings out of the man's own clothing.

[KingRexII]

Uriel, with Bala and Layla's help, finds the following items:

Spoiler

In parentheses are the names for whom the items are intended. You can, however, distribute them in anyway you'd like.

+1 Rapier (Uriel)
Boots of Elvenkind (Vyk)
Ring of Protection +1 (Vimath)
Gold Ring
Elven Chain (Layla)
Dagger (Uriel)
Flint and steel (Vimath)
Spell component pouch (Bala)
Wand of Protection from Evil (Bala)
Silver Holy Symbol of Nauruida (Layla)
5 platinum pieces

The guard is also wearing serviceable pants and shirt ((Gavin_Sage - you can pick the color as Layla's the one interested in it.)) as well as his outer brown robe, though I'm assuming Vimath will be using this to bind him.

Uriel, Bala and Layla are surprised to find that when they touch the guard's magical items, they somehow know their magical qualities. ((This does have a story reason, but it's also a nice convenient way to get your items without having to identify them all.))

With the guard's robes, Vimath ties him up in their old cell.

The sounds of fighting and yelling continues from the corridors on either side of them. You hear one conversation clearly among the din:

"Just tell us where Argos is, and we'll leave you be!"
"Never, fiend!"
*some indistinguishable noises* "You know we can overpower you! Relent!"
*some indistinguishable noises* "The Order will be here soon to --" More yelling from further away drowns out his last words.

[Toliudar]

Bala

Bala squats to assist with the investigation of the dead guard. Her voice is low.

Huh. A spellcaster, obviously. Anyone mind if I grab these?

She holds up a small pouch - easily recognizable to those who cast spells - and a wand.

Keeps you safe from the nasties, at least for a few seconds.

She lays out the other items they recover. Points at the dagger, and nods at Vyk.

Hey, hobbo. You were good with that sparker, but maybe you want a knife as a backup, eh?

She steps back as the others check out the remnants.

There's some kind of effect at play here that makes it easier to sense a magic thing's properties. Hopefully, we can make that help us. Then...well, I don't know who this Argos is, but I'd rather not find out. I say we get going the other direction.

[Gavin Sage]

Layla

The Lady be praised," Layla said as she pulled out a familar silver dolphin. She understood that symbols of faith were not strictly nessecary, but Layla couldn't help but feel closer to her goddess as she grasped the holy symbol too her chest. Hanging the dolphin in its proper place Layla removed the guards pants and shirt along with a fine suit of chain she recognized as of elven make. "I'm taking this armor as well as some clothes, I'll need just a bit of time to change. We should definetely split the gear. If no one objects I'll hold on to the coin and jewelry as well, I assure you I will split it equitably with all of use once we leave.

With that the elf began pulling on the dark brown trousers under the folds of the skirt. The man hadn't been particularly large it seemed, which was fortunate for the slender elf. The pants were large but servicable. And infinitely preferrable to the dress. Pants on the elf quickly doffed the dress and put on the white colored shirt. There was no privacy but years of cramped quarters on ships with mostly male, mostly human crews had long eroded any notion of caring from Layla. You did what you had too and that was that. Clothed again Layla swiftly went for the armor, careful on the fit. Taking as much time as she dare to be sure the fit was right.

Once finished Layla pulled the symbol of Nauruida out so that to be and easy reach and collected the coin if no one else had.

Spoiler

As light armor does elven chain take less time then normal chainmail. If yes then I'm taking full time, if its same as normal chainmail then I will take as much time as I'm allowed. I don't want to don hastily if I can avoid it, but don't let me slow anyone down.

[Weezer]

Uriel

Staring nervously up the corridor after little bit Uriel says We should get moving before that fighting reaches us

Spoiler

I vote only donning hastily for now, when we get someplace more secluded you can don it fully

[Toliudar]

Bala

Agreed.

Rolling her eyes as she sees the elf start to change, Bala darts down the passage away from the fighting, eager to see what might be down their possible escape route.

[KingRexII]

Visual so we're on the same page:

Spoiler

The yellow squares are what you know and can see. The 'G' marks where the bound and unconscious guard is. Most of the PCs are in the hallway, and Bala is moving toward the right away from where most of the fighting noises is coming.

The left side is the direction from where you heard the loud conversation. The right side is where you heard the explosion. The lightly dotted squares have light rubble (affects things like tumbling and general movement). The medium dotted squares have a bit more rubble. I'll post specific movement rules for that if necessary.

Bala goes right down the hallway. Peeking around the corner she sees:

Spoiler

Lots of rocky rubble, some of which are lightly on fire. There are three burned bodies among the debris. Along the outside wall, there is a 15' wide hole into what appears to be another cell; it's about 15' down the hallway. The inside wall across from the hole is severely dented, but still whole. Also, the corridor here is narrower -- only 10' wide -- and it extends for about 100'. You don't see or hear any active fighting down this way.

[Toliudar]

Bala

Bala scampers back to describe what she saw down the rubble-strewn passage.

Well, there's dead bodies, but the path seems clear. Might just lead to more cells, but it's better than here. What do you say?

[Gavin Sage]

Layla

"I say we find our way out, free any other prisoners along the and once we are free of the place, find out where we actually are. And who imprisoned us. I recomend locating some more armament first though, I doubt we will get free of this place without further contact" Layla said as she finished putting on her new armor.

[KingRexII]

Fighting continues down the left hallway as you tread water for a bit, trying to decide what to do. Layla risks donning the armor properly, and her gamble pays off as the sound of fighting ebbs and flows, but does not overrun them... yet. A stray arrow clangs against the wall before resting against the floor, harbingering the impending flood. The arrow is miraculously in tact.

OOC:

Spoiler

I said 'cool your heels', not stop! I'll resolve what actions you have for me when I get a chance (until Oct 10th, when I believe I should be back on a regular schedule), but I can't do much if you don't have a direction for your characters!