Tests and Trials (Manzanita Judging)

[scout989]

Luthiel Faradar Elven Rogue1

Luthiel looks a little unsure of himself as he replies "Well, as I mentioned to some others here, I specialize in getting places, unseen, and getting what I need. My sword arm is none too strong, but I will also gladly pitch into any ruckus in which we find ourselves." He looks expectantly at the others.

 

[Animus]

Garrit Kelspire, Half-orc Paladin 1 of Hyrag

"My talent is with the sword, and I use it in service of the Sun God Hyrag. I am glad you came along Luthiel and Devlin. The others and I were chatting for a bit and have gotten to know each other a little bit. As for me, I hail from Rincewood, east of Orussus."

 

[Cryndo]

Cryndo, Level 1 Human Cleric of Hyrag

"I, too, come from Rincewood and am a devout follower of Hyrag. I don't have use for a sword, though, but healing is my specialty."

 

[Dungannon]

Devlin Magruder, human rogue 3

"Rincewood, huh? I'm from the opposite direction, hailing from Ravensdale on the Western Road."

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

After a short wait, the apprentice emerges from the tower alone. He seems far more at ease now, more at home in this environment. Also, judging by his expression, his master is just fine.

When he reaches the party, he says, "Phew... I was really worried there, I mean, real!ly worried, what would you sirs think if you came home and... and... and this- this was here to greet you?! I near fainted just seeing it, oh my... Well, it seems, eh, yes, my master, he's quite alright, just fine, he is."

Staring back at the broken tower he adds, "I know just what you're all thinking- well, not to say you're predictable! No, no! 'Course not that, I'd never- I jus- Well, er, why'd the tower blow up, you'd like to know, for sure, definitely for sure."

"Well, y'see, it's like I said, my master, he's a good wizard he is, powerful, always doing his crazy experiments, right? But this one, the one he's going to hire you sirs for, see that one is a big one, really important, and it went sort of wrong, see? A little drop, he said, a little drop of the wrong stuff into the wrong solution and BAM!!!" Tracing the trajectory of the roof top with his finger, the boy makes a little whistling sound and finishes his presentation with another BAM!!!

"Well, anyway, he's up there, doing what he can to fix it, y'know, he's got a lot invested in that experiment, a lot of time and money and wizard... stuff. So he said for me to, y'know, to give the sirs their test. And then he'll be able to talk to you."

Becoming excited again, the boy shifts his weight from foot to foot again. "This'll be exciting, oh boy, I almost want to go with you, sirs, but my master, he says I have to stay here and help him, and well... you know him, he's not... well, yes. So... er... here's your test."

"All those signs we passed, y'know, the 'Beware of beasts' ones, right? Well, see, this land here is infested with baddies, not just dangerous animals, either. My master, he says... what does he say? He says that... 'Evil... corrupted...' yeah, 'Evil corrupted the creatures of the forest.' So yeah, the woods here, they're real dangerous for normal folk. Not my master, oh no, he just blasts 'em away with... fire... and ice and... stuff. Y'know, wizard stuff? They don't come into this clearing, he's so strong. But he isn't one to leave his tower, too many investments, he says."

He pauses and then turns slowly about, he points at the woods surrounding the clearing. "See all around here? That's where they live. There are other clearings, like this one, y'know, only smaller, there are trails and things, but y'know, it's a forest so they're not cobbled roads or anything. But yes, there are creatures out there, natural and unnatural, I've seen both, more than once, I can tell you that, oh boy, they're scary. And, well, your task is to... well... kill them. Hunt them and kill them. Or drive them away and make them never come back."

He looks down. "And you have to bring back... proof. Proof that you completed the test. Not that I think you're lying or anything, it's just that, my master... he... doesn't trust people, y'know how wizards are sometimes? Anyway, you just kill the evil creatures and that way he can tell if you're prepared enough to go all the way to the... the grave, er, crypt thing. Right? Sounds fair, right? I think so, I sure do. Can't just go sending people off to die, right? Have to make sure they're prepared, right? I'm sure you sirs are, oh yes, quite sure, but better safe than dead, right? So, that's it. You have three days, he says. Three days to clear them all out, or at least, most of them, so they aren't so annoying or... threatening, and dangerous, okay?"

He looks up, hoping of course for affirmative nods and assurances.

OOC to Enkhidu: Since Malen is a dwarf, his stonecunning tells him some about the tower:
[sblock]The stone tower, from your current vantage point, seems very old, at least a few centuries. The stone is covered in ivy and moss and weathered like no other. You doubt that this wizard had the tower built for him, he can't possibly be as old as that stone structure. He must have taken up residence in it after it had been abandoned for some time, perhaps because of the infestation of the evil creatures.[/sblock]

OOC to All: I don't actually expect you to not read what's in the spoiler blocks, but don't act on any information contained within unless they're directed to you or the person they are directed to decides to share the information with the party.

OOC to Certain PCs: I glanced at your character sheets and some of your formatting is awful. It's very hard to read. You know who you are, go fix your sheets! If you didn't know already, Notepad is good for editing these things because you can keep all the formatting and the EZBoard tags "[ ]". Just remember that the tags can skew the formatting in Notepad, too. They disappear, obviously, when you post them, so your formatting might be 3 - 6 spaces off when you actually submit it. This would be why. Anyway, I ramble. You're computer savvy, format your sheets so I can read them.

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

OOC to All: For dice rolling, I have three methods:

A) I roll 'em all, and you guys never see any of it.
B) I roll 'em all, and I link every roll to an invisblecastle.com profile for you to see the math, etc.
C) You roll for your characters (attacks, searches, saves, etc.) and I roll for everything else (monster attacks, spot checks, etc.)

I'm fine with any of the three. I personally prefer A or B because it takes less chaos and posting, though they make the game far more dependent on me having lots of free time. So, you guys vote, and I'll break a tie in such an event.

 

[scout989]

Luthiel Faradar Elven Rogue1

Luthiel looks both excited and nervous at the prospect of taking on a forest full of unnatural creatures, but he replies with as much courage as he can muster "Hmm, doesn't sound as though I'll be as useful as I hoped. Nonetheless, I'm not giving up on this job yet! If killing a few evil, corrupted creatures is what it takes to be part of this group, count me in!" I wonder if there really is a job or not, he thinks to himself. This would be an easy way to convince a bunch of adventurers to come take care of a problem without having to pay anything up front. But, if I say anything about it, I may get kicked off the team, and then where would I be? He decides to stay and try to prove himself to these people, who have all been kind to him so far.

Ooc: If you refer to my character sheet, its that way because I'm not computer savvy; I have no idea how to do it any differently. Also, I vote for dice method a.

 

[Enkhidu]

Malen, Dwarf Wiz1

OOC: Based on the spoiler block info above, does it [sblock]look like this blast happen fairly recently, and - since the boy made it sound like the blast was at least partly alchemical - how much power would it take for something like that to happen on a structure that size/age/etc?[/sblock]

"Three days doesn't sound like all that much time if these woods are infested." grumbles Malen, to no one in particular. He moves toward the boy and stands uncomfortably close as he continues, "What's your master going to say if we don't get all theese beasties put down before the deadline; is there some sort of reward for getting some of them if not all?

OOC: I don't have any problem with dice rolling option A - it will probably make combat go more quickly, which is always a good thing in PbP. Also, when/if combat does break out, do you have preferences on how you want to handle it so we can continue even if someone doesn't get a chance to post?

 

[Animus]

Garrit Kelspire, Half-orc Paladin 1 of Hyrag

Garrit says to Malen, "Master dwarf, do you doubt your ability? I don't. I believe that we can do this." He puts his right hand on his shoulder. "We were meant to do this mission can't you see? So we will succeed."

He turns to the lad and says, "Do not worry, we will succeed in ridding the area of these 'beasts'. I say that on Hyrag's honor."

OOC: I like A. You might do a bunch of dice rolling in advance and storing them on a sheet of paper for future use. I use an excel spreadsheet myself. I won't be rolling any more dice for a while in my game .

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

The young man looks flustered at Malen's question. "Well, er... three days isn't enough? I uh... if that's a problem, y'know, my master... yeah, he'll tell you on the third day if you've done well enough, or maybe if, you need to... um, prove yourselves more? I don't really know, I could go ask him, if you really want... but my master, he says three days should be... um... adequate? Yes, adequate time, he said. So, that's about it. Um... any more questions?"

OOC to Enkhidu:
[sblock]The tower and the blown off roof top are about 60 and 30 feet away, respectively, so you can't see very well, but the stonework is obviously very good, possibly even built to resist sieges. The amount of force to blow the roof top off the tower must have been huge. To lift the weight of the massive thing at all is no small feat, and to break the stone like that seems nigh impossible, unless there was already a weakened fracture in the old structure. The force also threw the roof top 30 feet away from the tower, providing further evidence that whatever blew it off was of great magnitude.

As for how long ago the event happened, you could probably tell better up close, but it looks to be fairly recent. The evidence of obvious weathering is not apparent on the inside of the tower roof top.[/sblock]

OOC to scout989: If you want, I can help you format your sheet. In fact, unless you're going to do it yourself, I insist. Email me or I'll email you.

OOC to All: That's 3/6 votes for A, one more and it's official.

Player absence: Of course, I expect a notification before any leave of absence more than... oh, a day or two. In combat, I'll try to spur things by giving hints like "Garrit's turn." at the end of my posts. If I feel like you've gone missing, I'll make a seperate post about it and if you don't respond for 24 hours, I'll NPC you until you return. I will try to play your character like you've been playing it, but I give no insurance for what happens to it while I play it.