As the heroes entered the building, Tarhall stopped on the landing and brushed away the dust and the leaves, revealing the symbol of three interlocking rings. The leftmost white, the rightmost black, and the one in the middle red.

"If we had any doubts before," Tarhall said. "This has settled it. This was once a place of High Sorcery. And anything that was ours remains ours. I cannot allow anything that belongs to the Order be given to the King without their permission."

"But as the highest ranking member of the Order here, I'm sure I can give that permission for many things."

While the others entered the Lyceum, Jarl's guard waited outside with the wagon and the horses.

                ---D---
                |. . .|
                | . . |
                |. . .|
                | . . |
                |. . .|
                | . . |
                |. . .|
                | . . |
                |. . .|
9               | . . |
8         -------. . .-------
7         . . . . . . . . . .
6          . . . . . . . . .
5         . . . . . . . . . .
4         -------. . .-------
3               | . . |
2               |. . .|
1               | . . |
0               |. . .|
Z               | . . |
Y               |. . .|
X          ------ . . -------
W          . . . . . . . . .
V           . . . . . . . . .
U          . . . . . . . . .
T          ------ . . -------
S               |. . .|
R               | . . |
Q               |. . .|
P               | . . |
O               |. . .|
N               | . . |
M               |. . .|
L    /---\      | . . |      /---\
K  |-. # .-------. . .-------. # .-|
J  |. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
I  D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D
H  |. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
G  |-. # .-------. . .-------. # .-|
F    \---/      | . . |      \---/
E               |. . .|
D               | . . |
C               |. . .|
B               | . . |
A               |-DDD-|

  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456

T = D'aden
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas
W = Olven
K = Kar
O = Sir Owain
V = Tarhall
S = Sarah Caladen

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
# = Statue

The entry hall was made of light marble and went on for about 100 feet before the corridor ended in a door. Corridors broke off to both left and right with regular intervals and the rune covered vaulted ceiling was about 25 feet up, the details of the runes hidden in shadow.

In the first intersection, the outline of a black circle could be seen inlaid in the floor. Both corridors went on for a few yards before they, too, ended in doors. Both of these doors were flanked by statues.

[OOC: Each dot (.) is the center of a hex. Standard GURPS movement is in effect. To give an example. The hex represented by the red dot is next to all the hexes represented by orange dots. Thus the vertices are aligned vertically.]

[OOC: Please let me know where your characters are on the map and what you're doing.]

[OOC: Please indicate on your character sheets what you're bringing with you into the Lyceum and what you're leaving outside. And let me know when you've done so.]

"I will suggest that we explore this methodically let us follow the left-hand wall."

D'aden readies his bow and prepares to walk forward. In his mind's eye, numerous draconians leap from around corners, meeting their own destruction in the arrows that speed from his singing bow-string. All the time he looks at the structure around him, determined to spot any anomaly.

"Left-hand wall it is.  Any of you have any familiarity with traps?" Olven asks in a low voice, keeping a careful eye on his surroundings as he moves slowly forward.  His axe is in its sheath at his side, and his shield and spear are across his back.  In his hands, he carries his loaded crossbow.

OOC:  Following Jarlianthas' recommendation, Olven will follow the left-hand wall.

"I have some skill with traps," Sarah said.

"Sarah, would you go first, looking for traps?  I'll follow right behind you," Olven says.  He looks back at the monk.  "If that's okay with you, Kar," he says.

OOC: What's the lighting like here?  Do we need torches?  Who's carrying torches?

Jarlianthas hold his good hand out, taking a torch and speaking an arcane phrase.  Suddenly the torch sparks to life, glowing of it's own accord.

"That should do it I think."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:21, Tue 14 Dec 2010.

(Try #2:)

"I suspect that there are traps all over. Magical ones most likely, this being a magical place. I would alos think them to be fairly innocuous, more or less. A place of learning, they might teach a lesson, and knowing the right words or actions should make them not trip. However, paralyzing someone until the proper word is spoken would be minor in that setting, and perhaps fatal now."
This message was last edited by unknown at 21:06, Tue 14 Dec 2010.

Sarah led the heroes around the corner as she was looking for traps. The door they approached was made of blue steel covered with engravings. Two statues in black stone, each three times as high as the heroes, flanked the corriodor in their alcoves.

The statues depicted robed wizards, each with its right hand pressed across its chest and the left arm crooked palm up agaisnt its side. The left hand cradled a great black globe.

Jarl's magically lit torch provided all the light they could need.

"There are no traps on the door either," Sarah said after examening the door.

N               | . . |
M               |. . .|
L    /---\      | . . |      /---\
K  |-. # .-------. . .-------. # .-|
J  |. K . . O . . . . . . . . . . .|
I  D S W J . . . . . . . . . . . . D
H  |. V . T . . . . . . . . . . . .|
G  |-. # .-------. . .-------. # .-|
F    \---/      | . . |      \---/
E               |. . .|
D               | . . |
C               |. . .|
B               | . . |
A               |-DDD-|

  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456

T = D'aden
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas
W = Olven
K = Kar
O = Sir Owain
V = Tarhall
S = Sarah Caladen

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
# = Statue

[OOC: I placed the characters on the map. If you want your character to somewhere else, please say so in your post.]

"Who shall be the door opener? I suggest someone heavily protected, such as myself."

"If you're volunteering for duty, Sir Owain, I'll cover you," Olven says, his crossbow at the ready.  "Be careful.  Draconians, magic, and more might be behind that door.  We only know a fraction of what might be waiting for us. Kar, watch the rear.  Tarhall, Jarlianthas, stay in the middle.  Watch our backs."

Jarlianthas nods at the suggestion, he stays near Tarhall.

When all are ready, he will quickly jerk the door open, and draw his sword (unless he can do that with the sword already out).

He stands in the door, shield high, looking for what is on the other side, ready to slice it with his sword.

The door's engraving depicted three young men in robes gathering together among the clouds. Below them the handle of the door was formed into the semblance of a fist. Below the handle a faceless wizard cast a spell that covered the world in shadow and darkness.

The heroes moved around according to Olven's suggestion. And as Owain went for the handle, the metal handle returned the favor. The fist opened and grabbed Owain's hand.

N               | . . |
M               |. . .|
L    /---\      | . . |      /---\
K  |-. # .-------. . .-------. # .-|
J  |. . . . K . . . . . . . . . . .|
I  D O V J . . . . . . . . . . . . D
H  |. W . T S . . . . . . . . . . .|
G  |-. # .-------. . .-------. # .-|
F    \---/      | . . |      \---/
E               |. . .|
D               | . . |
C               |. . .|
B               | . . |
A               |-DDD-|

  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456

T = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
V = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
# = Statue

[OOC: I placed the characters on the map. If you want your character to somewhere else, please say so in your post.]

"Crud!" Owain cursed. Trying to open the door, pull away from the hand, or something, he asked, "Tar, what's the secret wizard hand shake? This thing's gonna rip my hand off! Some secret shadow spell word?" He drops his shield, and draws out his dagger, getting ready to start slicing.

As soon as Owain twisted the handle and opened the door, the hand let go. Leaving the door opened just a crack.

"Perhaps the door was just giving you a friendly greeting. I suspect magic is much like the creatures of the forest, they won't all try to eat you. At least, not at the same time."
Once the door opens without eating Owain, D'aden peers at the floor and along the walls, attempting to locate any signs of others having passed this way.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:03, Fri 17 Dec 2010.

"Hum," replied Tarhall as the door handle firstly animated and gripped Owain's hand and then released it in response to Owain's twisting and accidental opening of the door as he tried to break free.  "Very interesting.  It seems that the door is a some kind of test of trust.  To open it you have to be prepared to loose your hand.  Literally!  Somehow I imagine that should the magic in the lock determine that you are an intruder then your hand won't be released and the guard will be summoned.  Or something worse."

He glanced around at the others before he continued.  "I suggest that we proceed with a little more caution with regard to magical traps."

"Right you are, Tarhall," Olven says, nodding his head.  "Think you could check the doors for magic before we open them?  And D'aden, maybe you can check 'em for the mundane variety of traps."  Olven steps cautiously into the next room, his crossbow held before him.

"Yeah," he said, embarrassed. "Either that, or it's just a doorknob."

He puts away his dagger, wipes his hand on his chest (even though it's covered in mail and he's wearing a gauntlet), touches his ever-present horseshoe, draws his sword, and enters the room with a flourish of the sword.

Jarlianthas observed the strage door, "Curious." was his only comment.

The room was filled with onyx benches, polished to a shine, that faced away from the door towards a giant lectern. Four armored figures shook it and pried at it with their long fingernails.

As they saw Owain, the baaz draconians left the lectern and started moving towards him.

"So I'm not good enough then," Sarah asked Olven after he had asked D'aden to look for traps.

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . 4 b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . 3b.b.b.b. .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.b. .|. . . . K . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b O D . V J . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b. .|. W . T S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . 2 .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . 1 b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456

T = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
V = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
1-4: Baaz Draconians

"I can certainly check the doors for magical locks and traps in the future," Tarhall replied to Olven's question.  "However, my power is not inexhaustible and it may be better to save it at points!"

As it became apparent that Owain had disturbed four Baaz Draconians Tarhall spoke up again.  "I can try to lock the door, sealing them in there, should that be preferable to fighting them."

D'aden draws an arrow from his quiver in a liquid blur and nocks it as he says, "Why should we assume they want to fight? Perhaps they just want a hand with that lectern. Besides, there's only four of them, they're outnumbered."

"Sarah's fine," he says. "It wasn't a trap, just a panicked guy holding hands with the door."

"Preferable? No, that wouldn't be any fun at all."

To the Draconions, he says, "You may advance one to parley, or all will be presumed to be attacking." Too bad if they don't understand common, they should get the idea of the 'big guy with sword' who is ready to slice their heads off.

(OOC: Wait, evaluate, ready the sword.)

In response the draconians drew their swords. Two of them kept on moving, one jumping from pew to poished pew to reach the back first.

[OOC: If you Wait, you have to include what you're waiting for, or you Do Nothing. If you Evaluate, you have to include who you're evaluating, or you Do Nothing.]

[OOC: Owain is in the room alone with the draconians. The rest of you haven't entered the room yet.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . 4 . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b3 .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.b. .|. . . . K . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b O D . V J . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b. .|. W . T S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . 2 .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . 1 b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456

T = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
V = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
1-4: Baaz Draconians
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:16, Sat 18 Dec 2010.

"I got the right ones," he said, heading that way.

"Baaz Draconians are tough," Tarhall informed the others while staying well clear of the doorway to allow others to pass him and enter the room, should they so wish.  "They can take a substantial amount more damage than a man before they fall and their scales are tough, like armour."

As he hung back he started to prepare a spell.  "They are of lesser intelligence than the average man however so a trick of some kind might be in order.  Additionally they turn to stone when they die so don't leave your sword inside one Owain!  Or anyone else."

Tarhall then focused on his spell, taking a few steps to the right so that he could keep an eyeline on the rear left hand target. (OOC: Target No. 2)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:27, Sat 18 Dec 2010.

His bow bent and bowstring taut, D'aden peered through the door awaiting the creatures. Perhaps they weren't as intelligent as humans, but that would make them more dangerous. It would mean they would not realize they were outnumbered and should surrender until blood had spilled. Perhaps that was how it must be.
One thing was certain, as soon as one of the creatures advanced with anything less than a white flag there would be one less creature to deal with.

OOC: Wait until draconian appears in range, then determined attack.

"I don't think they aim to parley," Olven Wolf says, stepping into the room and Owain's left.  The mercenary draws a bead on the nearest one with his crossbow.

OOC:  Advance into the room and to the south of Owain, at hex H.  Second turn - Aim.  Third turn, if the Draconians are still approaching with intent to fight, fire at closest Draconian.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:34, Mon 20 Dec 2010.

Drawing a knife from his hip, Jarlianthas waits a moment before stepping in behind Owain.

OOC:First turn draw and wait, Second turn take Owain's place as he steps forward, Third turn throw knife at 4.

Owain stepped away from the door and waited for the approaching draconians.

Tarhall sidestepped until he got one of the draconians in sight and cast a spell. A flaming rock appeared in his hand and he threw it towards the draconian. But the draconian dodged and the magic impacted with the wall behind it instead.

With his bow ready, D’aden waited for a draconian to show its face in the door.

Olven entered the room with his readied crossbow.

Jarl drew his knife.

Kar and Sarah waited in the back.

As one of the draconians approached Owain to attack, Owain was faster and sliced a deep wound across its abdomen. It tried to return the favor, but its injuries skewed his aim.

[OOC: 4 isn't actually standing in the wall, but next to the wall. On this smaller map there is no other way to show it.]

[OOC: What do you do? At least Owain and Tarhall has to declare their actions. The rest of you may alter what you've already declared if you want to.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b. .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 4-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO .|. . V . K . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b . D . . J . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.bW .|. . . T S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . 2 1 . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

T = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
V = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
1-4: Baaz Draconians
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:38, Tue 21 Dec 2010.

(OOC: I can get a bonus for high ground if I'm on the bench, right? And I can do a step move to get there? If so, step up on the bench, and then do the following, if not, just the folowing:)

Owain takes it in stride, they are just more foes to be vanquished. He attacks again, keeping one mostly behind his shield while the other, wounded one, gets the brunt of his attacks.

(If you need to NPC him while I'm gone, just have him attack in a non-stupid way. He will of course protect the others as a priority if it looks like it's needed.)

Jarlianthas steps forward to stand between Owain and Olven.

Seeing as none of the enemies came into sight, D'aden decides his companions would be better served if he gained a better perspective. To achieve this, he moved to the left of the door and looked through. Spotting the draconians on the opposite wall, he readied his bow and took aim at the nearest one.

OOC: Unsure of where this fits in the action sequence, but D'aden moves to the side of the door (hex in row J), readies his bow, and takes aim at #2

"I'll take the ones on the left!" yells Olven, taking aim at the closer of the two draconians.  "Come on, lizzies, just a few steps forward," he mutters, keeping his target in sight.

OOC:  Aim for the closer draconian.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:23, Wed 22 Dec 2010.

Tarhall took a few steps forward in order to keep the Draconian he had thrown the missile at in his line of sight.  Without entering the room Tarhall then pointed his staff through the doorway at the same Draconian and barked a sharp command word, speaking a language unintelligible to most, but one that radiated power when spoken by a member of the Order such as Tarhall.

He hoped that, should the spell prove successful and the Draconian's innate magic resistance not protect his target, that particular Draconian would be stuck where he stood and unable to engage in melee combat.  Improving the odds was always worthwhile and giving his comrades more time to deal with the other three Draconians seemed a sensible idea!


OOC:
Tarhall will move forward a couple of hexes and then cast Rooted Feet at Draconian no. 2.  His base skill with the spell is 19 and I’m guessing that once you allow for the staff he’s about 5 yards away making the casting target number 14.  Hopefully he’s successfully cast it by a decent margin (though we’ll see if the Draconian resists).

14:02, Today: Tarhall uth Veyranth rolled 6 using 3d6. Casting Rooted Feed @ Draconian No.2.

Owain sliced the draconian again.
Jarl entered the room.
D’aden moved and started aiming at one of the draconians (#2).
Olven fired his crossbow at one of the draconians (#1) and it penetrated its scales. Olven then dropped the weapon.
Tarhall stepped forward.
Kar and Sarah continued to watch the rear.

Two of the baaz advanced on Olven.
The wounded baaz attacked Owain, but missed.
The final baaz stepped forward attacked Jarl, but Jarl dodged.


[What do you do?]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b. .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO 4|T V . . K . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b J D . . . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.bW .|. . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b2 1| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

T = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
V = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1 and 3 are wounded

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:02, Mon 27 Dec 2010.

"Sarah, keep your eyes to our backs, we don't want to be surprised by any unexpected arrivals from behind." Kar said and then moved to the door to see whether his assistance was necessary in the next room.

Olven readies his spear and holds it two-handed as he eyes his draconians warily.  "Guys - a little help here," he says.  He holds his spear out warily, watching for the draconians' next move.

OOC:  Ready spear - two-handed grip, reach 2.

"There's only two over there... They can't be that tough, can they?" He swings again at one of his, to see.

Jarlianthas stabs at the Draconian, who is nearest.

18:44, Today: Jarlianthas Erethriel rolled 9 using 3d6. Knife attack #4.
Target 13

D'aden releases his arrow, his aim unerring the shaft zips directly at the draconian.

OOC:20:56, Today: D'aden Tor VIII rolled 7 using 3d6. shoot #2 (+1 aim, 17 to start).

Kar spoke with Sarah and moved to the door.
Olven readied his spear.
Owain attacked again, but the draconian dodged.
Jarl stepped closer to the draconian and tried to stab him, but the draconian dodged.
D’aden fired at the draconian with an arrow sticking out of him, but unfortunately it dodged this time.

One of the draconians moved forward and attacked Owain, but he stepped away into the space Jarl had vacated only a moment earlier.
The arrow pierced draconian moved forward.
One draconian attacked Owain, but he dodged.
While the last draconian attacked Jarl, but missed.


[What do you do?]

[Jarl (J) is now sharing a hex with 4 and Kar (K) is standing in the doorway.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b. .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO J|T V . . . . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b W K . . . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b. .|. . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b 1 2-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

T = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
V = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1 and 3 are wounded

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench

Owain decides to dazzle them with superior sworsmanship- they seem to be able to handle a toe-to-toe fight fairly well.

(Feint. Did we kill #4? Pick the proper one for me to do this on, I presume #3 if #4 is gone.)

Olven takes a stab at the wounded Draconian.  "Tough enough!  Scaly, sharp teeth, and mad as hell - and wounding 'em doesn't improve their disposition!"

OOC:  Deceptive Thrust Attack - -2 for a -1 to Drac's defense roll.

Jarlianthas mumbles something quickly, but nothing appears to occur.

16:49, Today: Jarlianthas Erethriel rolled 14 using 3d6. Icy Weapon Target 13.

Owain feinted one of the draconians (3).
Olven thrusted his spear into the torso of the other wounded draconian (1).
Jarl mumbled, but nothing happened.
Kar looked over the situation from his position in the doorway.
D’aden drew an arrow from his quiver and readied his bow for another shot.
Tarhall still couldn’t get a good view of anyone in the room beyond the doorway.
Sarah kept watching their backs.

The wounded draconian (1) stepped towards Olven, but its attack doesn’t only miss him, the sword turns in the draconian’s hand, making it unsuitable to attack before it has reaffirmed his grip on the sword.

The other draconian on that side (2) also stepped forward and attacked Kar. But Kar stepped out of the doorway and into the corridor and the draconian missed.

The other wounded draconian (3) continued its attack on Owain, but it missed.

The final draconian dropped his sword and clawed Jarl, who unfortunately couldn’t get away. (-3hp)

[Jarl (J) is now sharing a hex with 4 and Kar (K) is standing in the doorway.]

[I decided to switch the designations of D'aden and Tarhall on the map, hopefully it will be easier to remember who's who.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b. .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO J|V T . . . . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b W K . . . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b1 2|. . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; Lost 3hp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1 (unready) and 3 are wounded, 4 is unarmed

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:55, Mon 03 Jan 2011.

Owain attacks the draconian.

(OOC: Attack, Mighty Blows for +3 dam, target torso, spend 1FP.)

Jarlianthas stabs the knife at the draconian standing next to him.

13:52, Today: Jarlianthas Erethriel rolled 6 using 3d6. Knife Attack #4: target 13.

The brief look had given Kar the information needed, namely that it was too cramped in there to use his staff and that the others could do with his assistance.

Dropping the staff he stepped through the door and turning continued his movement straight into the creature in the hope that closing the distance would surprise it as well as render it's held weapon useless.

Passing his left leg between those of the Draconian the monk then swept it back attempting to catch it's right even as his body smacked into it's, the idea being that the sudden loss of one of it's supports along with the impact of Kar's form would suffice to send it flying backwards.

If successful Kar allowed himself to fall with the creature, there was little that he could do not to having committed to the move, but he did attempt to turn his own momentum into a forward roll to bring him past the opponent.

07:01, Today: Kar Reuel rolled 7 using 3d6. Attack #2 (judo).

Olven found himself out of room for his spear.  I need more training, he thinks to himself, and so, letting go of his spear, he draws his axe for closer work.

OOC:  Drop spear.  Ready axe.

D'aden steadied himself, and aimed carefully for the draconian fumbling with his sword.

OOC: Spending more time on his aim, D'aden is apparently attempting to place his shot.

Owain swung his sword and cut the draconian in half. The two halves toppled to the ground and had turned to stone before they hit the floor.

Jarl stabbed a draconian.

Having dropped his staff, Kar moved up on one of the draconians (2) and punched it.

Olven switched weapons.

D’aden aims at one of the draconians (2) who now is in close combat with Kar.

With a clear view, Tarhall cast a spell at one of the draconians (1), but the draconian didn’t seem to be effected.

Sarah kept an eye out to cover their backs.

The draconian facing Olven stepped closer as it dropped its sword and tried to claw Olven, but Olven dodged.

The draconian facing Kar dropped its sword too, but its claws missed.

The last remaining draconian clawed Jarl (-3hp).

[Jarl (J) is now sharing a hex with 4 and Kar (K) is in the same hex as 2.]
[Both 3s are the two stone halves remains of 3. Olven (W) is in the same hex as 1.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b3 .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO J|V T . . . . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b W D . . . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b. K|. . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; Lost 6hp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1, 2, 4 are unarmed and wounded. 3 is dead.

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:22, Tue 04 Jan 2011.

Bleeding rather profusely, Jarlianthas tries a desperate move.  Mumbling, with a wave of his hand, he attempts to lift the draconian off of its feet into the air.

08:43, Today: Jarlianthas Erethriel rolled 7 using 3d6. Levitation on Draconian #4 Target 15.

He mutters, "They'd be pretty tough with my sword stuck in a stone..."

More clearly, he says, "If you could retreat over that half-enemy, it would be my pleasure to take over this part of the fight for you, Jarlianthas."

(He will be ready with a shield block to use against enemy #4, either for him or a sacrifical block for Jarl.)

"Your sword in a stone?  Sounds legendary."  Grinning, Olven takes a step away, turns, and slices at his draconian.

OOC:  Move SW, turn, and Swing Attack Drac 1.

"Sounds like a pain, I like my sword. It fits my hand well, and... it kills draconians."

Having taken careful aim, D'aden waits for a good clear shot.
OOC: My character's just waiting for a good shot so he can give the lizardman a new piercing, and I'm bored, so I typed this in.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:07, Sat 08 Jan 2011.

Kar continued his assault on the draconian attempting to subdue it quickly.

From the sounds of Owain's comments Jarlianthas was quite possibly in trouble but Tarhall was unable to see what was going on.  He therefore moved southwards several paces while keeping focused through the door, looking to see where Jarlianthas had ended up and what his current situation was.

His hope was that he could then help in some way, though if Jarlianthas had been wounded then his long term aid would be limited as healing magic was beyond him.


OOC - Moving southwards 2 hexes so that he can see Jarlianthas through the open door.

Jarl started to cast a spell

Owain waited for Jarl to move so that he could attack the draconian.

Olven stepped away from the draconian that was crowding him and into the doorway. He swung his axe and hit the draconian who fell to the ground unmoving, though it did not turn to stone.

D’aden kept aiming at the draconian (2) hoping for a clean shot, though two of his companions where no in the way.

Kar continued fighting with the draconian (2) and hit it.

Tarhall moved to get a better view of Jarl and he could see him casting a spell with the draconian (4) on the other side. Olven was also standing between them.

Sarah continued to keep an eye to the group’s rear.

The two draconians still standing (2, 4) attacked  Jarl and Kar and both of them hit (-4hp each). Because of his injuries, Jarl lost his concentration and the spell fizzled.

[Jarl (J) is now sharing a hex with 4 and Kar (K) is in the same hex as 2.]
[Both 3s are the two stone halves remains of 3. Olven (W) is standing in the doorway.]
[1 is lying face up and unmoving with its feet in the upper hex. It is either dead, unconscious, in a coma (mortal condition), or one of the following incapacitating conditions: paralysis, sleep, unconsciousness.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b3 .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO J|V . . . . . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b 1 W . . . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b1 K|T . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; Lost 10hp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel; Lost 4hp
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1, 2, 4 are unarmed and wounded. 3 is dead.

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench

Jarlianthas decides to take Olven's advice and run around behind the stone form of the deceaced draconian.

Owain again decides to dazzle the bad guys with sword work.

(Feint. If he defends, I might hit Jarl, correct? I want to not do that. Flurry of blows, -1FP = -2 total, Attack called shot = torso.)

D'aden continues to focus on aiming at the draconian, his face fixed in concentration, his arms slowly quivering as he lines up the shot.

Concerned that he might hit Olven with his spell, Tarhall hesitated and waited for a clearer opportunity.

"Olven, push forward out of the doorway if you can!" he called out to his companion.

Kar continued to press his attack on the draconian hoping to disable it quickly.

Olven nods his head at Tarhall's words, takes a slice at the closest Draconian, but seeing no clear path further into the room, he steps backward.  "Jarlianthas, retreat back out here!" he calls.

OOC:  Swing attack Draconian 1.  Step back to the east one hex.

Tarhall asked Olven to move out of the doorway.

Olven gave new instructions to Jarl’s retreat, swung his axe and hit the unmoving draconian (1) on the floor before backing out of the doorway.

Jarl backed away from the draconian and was standing over the feet of the unmoving draconian (1).

Owain tried to dazzle the draconian (4) that had been fighting with Jarl, but it was not impressed with his sword work, as the feint failed and it dodged both of the knight’s quick attacks.

Seeing his opportunity, Tarhall conjured a perfectly spherical rock into his hand out of nowhere and threw it at the draconian (4) too occupied to avoid it.

D’aden continued to aim at the draconian (2) on the other side of Kar.

Kar continued to attack the draconian (2), but it dodged out of his way.

Sarah continued to keep an eye to the rear.

One draconian (2) tried to claw Kar, but he dodged.

The other (4) followed Jarl and tried to claw him again, but it missed.


[Jarl (J) is now sharing a hex with 4 and 1's feet and Kar (K) is in the same hex as 2.]
[1 is lying face up and unmoving with its feet in the upper hex. It is either dead, unconscious, in a coma (mortal condition), or one of the following incapacitating conditions: paralysis, sleep, unconsciousness.]
[Both 3s are the two stone halves remains of 3.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b3 .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO .|V . . . . . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b b J D W . . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b1 K|T . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; Lost 10hp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel; Lost 4hp
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1, 2, 4 are unarmed and wounded. 3 is dead.

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench

"Where are you going, short & scaly?" he asked as he tried hitting the draconan again.

Same tactic, feint & attack. -3FP total.

Tahall continued moving, trying to keep the Draconian who was attacking Jarl in view.

D'aden picks his moment, and releases his arrow. As he releases the tension in his muscles, there is a slight quiver while his body adjusts. Putting the longbow down, he brings out his staff and prepares to wade into the fray.

Jarlianthas climbs up on the bench to the west.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Thu 20 Jan 2011.

"Jarlianthas!  Flee!" Olven shouts.  The half-elf is bleeding buckets, and Olven wonders how long Jarlianthas can remain standing.  He knows they must act quickly or Jarlianthas could perish.

Stepping forward, he attacks the draconian who is trying to kill Jarlianthas.

All-Out Attack - Double.  Two Swing attacks.

Owain feinted the draconian (4) again, but missed with one of his follow up attacks. The other though, was a perfect slash across its abdomen. And despite the wound, it remained on its feet.

Tarhall moved, but unwilling to step up to the draconian, he kept Olven between himself and it.

D’aden let go of his arrow and it flew unerringly through the doorway and past Kar, but only a moment before it would strike the draconian, it slightly moved out of its way and it shattered as it struck the rock wall behind them.

Jarl continued to evade the draconian.

Olven stepped into the doorway only a moment after D’aden’s arrow had past through that very spot and swung his axe twice at the draconian and hitting both times. But the draconian remained on his feet despite injury and blood loss.

Kar struck at his draconian (2), but as with the arrow, it moved out of the way of the blow too.

Sarah continued to watch their back.

One of the draconians (4) now turned away from Jarl and swung its claws at Olven instead. And though it hit, it did only minimum damage (Olven -1hp).

The other draconian attacked Kar, but Kar moved out of the way.

[Jarl (J) is now on a bench. Olven is sharing a hex with 4 in the doorway. Kar (K) is in the same hex as 2. Olven (W) is standing in the doorway.]
[1 is lying face up and unmoving with its feet in the upper hex. It is either dead, unconscious, in a coma (mortal condition), or one of the following incapacitating conditions: paralysis, sleep, unconsciousness.]
[Both 3s are the two stone halves remains of 3.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b3 .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.bO .|V . . . . . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b J 4 W . T . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b1 K|. . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; Lost 10hp
W = Olven Wolf; lost 1hp
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel; Lost 4hp
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1, 2, 4 are unarmed and wounded. 3 is dead.

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:08, Mon 31 Jan 2011.

"Booger!" he calls the draconian as it doesn't die yet again.

"Jarl, Coup d' grace on the one on the floor, if you have the time," he says calmly as he again tries to slice the draconian (#4).

Same tactic, Feint, flurry of blows, 4FP.

Jarlianthas focuses on the draconian Owain indicated and begins chanting.

Moving with as much agility as he could muster Kar attempted to avoid the counter attacks of the draconian.

Tarhall kept moving, attempting to get a clear view of the Draconian (#4) attacking Olven.  They were engaged in melee with each other and Tarhall was concerned that any spell he cast might catch Olven either instead or as well!

Taking a step to the side, Olven lashes out again at the draconian who has been harassing Jarlianthas.  "Come on, ugly!" he says.  "Take a bite out of this!"

OOC:  Step NW 1 hex.  Deceptive (-2/-1) Swing Attack on Drac 4.

D'aden slides his staff from the straps on his pack, then carefully sets his grip. As the melee progresses in front of him, he awaits an opportunity to move in and make a difference.

Owain dazzled with his swordsmanship and hit one of the draconians (4) with two swift swings of his sword. Worse for wear the draconian was still standing despite the blood.

A sphere of ice formed in Jarl’s hand and he cast it on the face up draconian (1) who instantly turned to stone.

Kar punched the draconian (2) that faced him.

With Olven in the doorway, Tarhall couldn’t find a better position

Olven stepped back from the draconian (4), swung his axe, and after hitting it, it turned to stone right there in the doorway.

D’Aden waited, but only moments after Olven had moved away and struck the draconian, it was already dead and a stone statue blocking the four in the corridor to aid those in the room beyond.

Sarah kept an eye out to avoid being surprised from the rear.

The only remaining draconian clawed at Kar, but Kar parried.

[Jarl (J) is now on a bench. The stone statue of 4 is the doorway. Kar (K) is in the same hex as 2. Owain (O) is in the same hex as 1's feet.]
[Both 1s are the stone remains of 1 lying face up with its feet in the upper hex.]
[Both 3s are the two stone halves remains of 3.]

O      /--------------            |. . .|
N     / . . . . . . .|            | . . |
M    / . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
L   / . . .b.b.b.b3 .| /---\      | . . |
K  / . . . b b b b 3 |-. # .-------. . .-
J  |. . . .b.b.b.b. .|V . . . . . . . . .
I  | .L. . b b b J O 4 . T . . . . . . .
H  |. . . .b.b.b.b1 K|W . . . S . . . . .
G  \ . . . b b b b . |-. # .-------. . .-
F   \ . . .b.b.b.b. .| \---/      | . . |
E    \ . . b b b b . |            |. . .|
D     \ . . . . . . .|            | . . |
C      \--------------            |. . .|
B                                 | . . |
A                                 |-DDD-|


  A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y 0 2 4 6

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; Lost 10hp
W = Olven Wolf; lost 1hp
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel; Lost 4hp
S = Sarah Caladen

1-4: Baaz Draconians; 1, 2, 4 are unarmed and wounded. 3 is dead.

. = The center of a hex. If the center of a hex resides in a wall, it is not indicated on the map, but the hex is still there.
D = Door
DDD = Double Door
L = Lectern
b = Bench
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:42, Fri 04 Feb 2011.

"Blast it!" Olven says as the draconian turns to stone, blocking half of the party from the other half.  Bracing himself, he puts his shoulder to the newly created statue, trying to push it enough that the group inside in the chamber isn't cut off from the others.  "Guys, can you give me a hand?" he asks the group outside the room.

OOC:  Try to push the statute westward into the room.

"Hey! Pull it out," he complains, "It's crowded enough in here!"

He tries to get past to reach the last draconian, and attack it. Nothing fancy, this time, just move and slice.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:58, Tue 01 Feb 2011.

D'aden moves forward, and prepares to work his staff in to use as a lever and move the stony draconian ^{I couldn't resist}. "Just tip the top of it down and we'll climb over the thing."

Owain moved up on the last draconian (2), sliced it from the side while it was occupied with Kar and it collapsed from its wounds.

[No enemies are "awake" to hinder your progress.]

Giving the last one a quick slash, he looks at D'aden and says, "Sure, look out. It doesn't seem like you're getting it off, poking that stoned draconian with your staff like that." He topples it over (if he has enough actions, he does the Coup D'Grace first, and someone else could beat him to it.)

"I agree with Owain," called Tarhall to Olven and the others.  "Let's pull the statue over into this hall rather than pushing it backwards into the lecture room."

He then moved forward to help do so, though he certainly wasn't strong enough to do it on his own!

As several heroes moved the draconian statue out of the doorway, Owain finished the last draconian.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:50, Wed 02 Feb 2011.

"Nice work, everybody," Olven says, the threats neutralized.  "Now, let's see about the wounded here.  I've got some bandages in my pack, but I only know a smattering about healing folks, and Jarlianthas here looks like he took some bad wounds in that skirmish.  Kar, you took a hit, too.  We better have a look at you, too."

Olven retrieves his spear and crossbow.  He reloads the crossbow and sheathes the spear, then focuses his attention on the wounded.

"Yes, excellent idea. Bandage all the wounded, I will stand guard for now."

He looks around the room to see what's what, and why the draconians were where they were. Worship seems unlikely.

"I've done some patching in the past. I'll see what I can do to help while you look around."
Taking the bandages offered by Olven, D'aden begins to tend those with injuries.

Olven bandaged Jarl and D'aden approached Kar to do the same.

"I can take care of myself," Kar said. "I am a cleric after all." When While Olven was bandaging Jarl, Kar stepped up and cast his magic on him too.

After which D'aden bandaged Olven [assuming your ok with that].

"I'd better rest," Kar continued. "So that I'm at full strength if we run into more trouble." Then he sat down on the floor with his back against the wall and Sarah sat next to him. And he let his magic work on him.


[Jarl is HP-1, everyone else have recovered fully from any HP loss. If you want to regain FP, you have to rest. And as Kar needs to rest for 40 minutes, you have time to spend here.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:33, Fri 04 Feb 2011.

Kar sat quietly meditating as he rested and then finally rose and spoke "Well then, do you wish to search this room or shall we move on?" As he did so he looked at Tarhall as this was his area of expertise, or at least the the contents of this building were likely to be.

D'aden looks curiously at the room. "Almost looks like a chapel. Assuming those dracs weren't here just for fun, and remembering the hostility with which they greeted us, I will be surprised if there isn't something valuable in here."
Taking action on his own deductions, D'aden begins to look at the benches, walls, podium, etc. in the place.

GM passing a message

After making sure there are no more immediate threats in the room, Owain sits down to catch his breath. (Rest to recover fatigue.)

"Those things were pretty nasty, weren't they? I'm glad someone told me not to leave my sword in one. That would stink, I like my sword."

"Perhaps the dracs had one you could borrow while they held yours?"

He chuckles. "They couldn't make one I'd like. But that isn't a bad idea. Let's search them."

(Unless their gear turns to stone too? He'll search them after he gets his fatigue back, which is probably no where near as long as the spellcasters.)

Olven takes a breather, his spear and axe close by as he rests for a moment.  "You know, I expected those draconians to be tougher than they were," he says, his back against the wall.  "I wonder if they've taken those two kids through here.  I know I sounded like a callous jackass back there, but I would like to rescue them if we can."

After he has rested, Olven clambers to his feet, makes sure his weapons are stowed away and his shield is strapped to his arm, and begins searching through the room.  "Remember, our orders are to find anything of value that can help rebuild Kalaman," he says.

"I still think we should worry more about them," he confesses. "I do not know they didn't come here, though, and certainly have no skill in trying to find out where they are- so this is as good as any to look for them, I'd suppose.

"Let's take all the valuable we don't want to carry, and put it in the main lobby, or whatever the first room is."

He will do so with any of the broadswords that are unclaimed (he does not want one).

Flipping one of the swords into a fighting grip, then spinning it around, and mimicing a few attacks, he says, "Eh. Middling quality, but not horrible."

(OOC: Made Connoisseur(weapons) roll by 2, and it is his speciality weapon. Any more info on the swords?)

GM passing a message

Hefting one of the drac broadswords, and testing its balance, D'aden attempts to find some way of carrying the sword while leaving his hands free. "I'll just borrow this while we're on our way, for some reason I've never gotten around to getting one of my own."
"None of the human tracks outside appeared to be with the draconians. I suspect the children are either closer to home, or farther away. I'm fairly sure they didn't stop here."
"This appears to be some sort of assembly room, perhaps for instruction. That being the case, there's a word scratched in that podium which may provide Jarl with some clues as to what may be nearby."

Jarlianthas strides over to inspect the podium.

"Good to know if we lose our weapons, the locals will gladly supply us with more."  He hefts one of the broadswords and takes a few practice swings.  "I think I'll still with my axe and spear, but this wouldn't be bad as a back-up-back-up weapon."  He grins.

Leaving the other two in the foyer, he adds, "I like my sword. The possibilities of me not having it, and still being able to use one, seem slim to me. However, if you wouldn't mind loaning one of those to me until I can return here to replace it, I do believe we should have enough back-up back-up weapons." He grins. "Some of you are going to be using weapons instead of armor, you'll have so much steel on you."

He checks the dracs for sheathes, and if he finds one, hands it to D'aden.

All four of the draconians wore sheathes that remain behind, though the statues themselves deteriorated into dust only minutes after the draconians turned to stone.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:34, Mon 07 Feb 2011.

Taking the sheathe, D'aden quips, "I'm just a simple woodsman, I can't afford to be sheathed in steel."

"Touché. However, it is good news that these things will release a sword after a few minutes," he says, indicating the piles of dust. "Completely weird metabolism. I wonder how they do that...? Must be magical."

"So.. how about someone tells me what they know about the other kinds of draconians? Could be useful info... Anyone know how to read this?" he asks, looking at the inscription up front.

GM passing a message.

"It says 'Azrain', but the word means little to me."

As Jarl spoke, a section of the wall behind the lectern opened and revealed a corridor.

[Link to maps: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688 The current map is Lyceum3, though the location of the various characters have not been updated. The characters are still depicted as they were when the last of the draconians was dealt with

Lyceum1 shows the most detail in regards to the characters. The software I use, didn't include any useful images of characters, so I'm using round tokens instead. With the same letters and numbers identifying the various characters in the same way I used in the thread during the combat. The smaller circle on each token indicates which direction the character is facing.

To make the map as clear as possible, I'm not using any "special effects" in the map.]

"Excellent work," he says, looking down the hall to make sure it's clear. "Are we rested up yet?"

"Huh... look at that."  Jarl is curious about the newly acquired hallway, but learned his lesson about being in the front.

"Hey, very nice," Olven says, grinning.  "Looks like you said the magic word."

"Might I suggest Sir Owain take the lead?  Sarah will be invaluable for checking for traps.  Jarl and Tarhall, you two should stay in the middle, protected by the rest of us.  Kar, maybe you should stay near them to protect them.  I'll take the rear guard, just in case anyone tries to attack us from behind." Olven has his axe in one hand and his shield in the other.  "D'aden, you want to come after Tarhall and Jarlianthas?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:52, Tue 08 Feb 2011.

D'aden is picking through the dragon dust to reclaim any useful arrows he left behind. "I can be where ever you need me. I'm not used to such close quarters, so I think I should forego my bow until it's specifically needed. Are we going to sneak up on the darkness or march boldly down the corridor?"

"I prefer to march boldly. I don't do sneak very well. I would guess, more valuable stuff is in the secret places, so let's go find some treasure!"

(OOC: Who has a light? BTW, I'm Owain. You're Olven. :P )

If we're ready, and have a light, he will lead the way, sword out and shield ready.

The heroes continued down the newly revealed corridor. It was arched and more than three times the height of a man. The walls and floor made out of the same kind of stones they had seen elsewhere in the Lyceum.



http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688
Images Lyceum4 and Lyceum4b

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; -1hp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen
* The small circle on the token indicates the direction you're facing
* The yellow edge on a token indicates that the character has an active light source
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:23, Wed 09 Feb 2011.

"Don't worry, no harm will come to them if I can do anything about it." Kar responded as he took his place.

He was alert to dangers ahead but also, given the height of the corridor, to the possibility of threats from above.

"This is just so terribly exciting, don't you think?  The secret passageway of an undiscovered ruin.  I feel like a giddy schoolboy again." He said to no one in particular.

"Just don't go acting like a giddy schoolboy, and you'll be just fine, sir" Olven says.  He looks around him as they walk down the corridor, expecting an ambush at every point.  "I wish we had better intel about just what to expect here.  Those draconians look like they're using this place as a base."

The heroes continued down the corridor.

[http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688 Your close up is 4c. I've not made another image of the whole corridor, but you have not yet arrived at the first intersection.]

"I like to make sure there's nothing to come back at us. I hate it when there's a bunch of choices, but there's likely going  to be something in rooms, and not so much in corridors, so let's check that out first." He heads to the room, hopefully the guy with the light still following him.

"Wait a second..." Jarlianthas stares at the wall on the right wall, feeling along the wall with his hand.  "There seems to be another pasageway here."

"More secrets... curiouser and curiouser..."

GM passing a message

Squinting as he felt along the wall, "Wait, I see something. Hrmm it worked before... Merak!"  He nearly shouted the last word in his excitement.

"Quietly," he reminds him. "Darconians about." He readies for a battle.

A section of the wall opened into a room the size and shape of the room they left only moments ago, but only the remains of the furniture was left in this one.



http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688
Images Lyceum4 and Lyceum4d

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; -1hp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen
* The small circle on the token indicates the direction you're facing
* The yellow edge on a token indicates that the character has an active light source

D'aden looks toward the room, and remarks, "If all of that furniture is broken, it was probably done deliberately. Anything natural wouldn't be that thorough."

"Possible. Chances are it was more accidental or collateral, but I agree it was probably not natural."

"Well, let's see what we can see." Olven advances into the room, axe at the ready, scanning for trouble.  He pokes among the broken furniture, looking for anything interesting.

Owain advances on the other side, 'fanning out' as it were, once in the doorway. He checks for general threats, though, expecting someone to be hiding in corners and such. Then he checks the open doorways for the same thing, before he looks at the room contents.

The heroes entered the room and searched through the rubble, but didn't find anything interesting.

"Ah well, that's terribly disappointing, I was so excited at the prospect of a hidden alcove."  Jarl sighs heavily.

Tarhall entered the room and looked around it fully, taking in everything fully.  Almost absentmindedly he answered a question someone had asked a while ago, even though the conversation had already moved on.

"Draconians are formidable creatures," he started, sounding like he was repeating something that he had studied.  "They can see in total darkness, eat and drink less than humans and are immune to magical sleep effects.  Some have wings and can glide, though they are faster on their feet.  There are five types I know of.  Aurak, Baaz, Bozak, Kapak and Sivak.  Does anyone wish to know particulars of any particular type?"

He headed further into the room, walking round the benches towards the lectern.

Kar answered Tarhall with a question "Do they all turn to stone on death and, for that matter, do they all prefer natural weapons as those we encountered dropped their swords as soon as they could?"

"I think they just stank at using them, is all," he comments.

"I suggest our next moave is back down the secret corridor. This is another un-secret room leading to it, I think, and as I have mentioned, if it's worth hiding- it's worth finding."

Despite his agreement with Owain's urgings to move on Tarhall chose to answer Kar's questions while he followed Owain's directions.

"My understanding is that only Baaz draconians turn to stone.  Kapak draconians turn into a pool of acid when they die, Aurak and Bozak draconians explode, and Sivak are the strangest of all.  When they die they turn into the shape of the one that killed them, if they were killed by a humanoid.  If they were killed by something else though then they burst into flame."

"Now with regards to their preference for physical weapons or natural weapons I don't really know the answer.  I believe that they can all use weapons and have a variety of natural weapons they can employ.  Of much greater concern is the magic that Aurak and Bozak draconians practice.  Aurak draconians in particular are powerful in the arcane arts."

"Great. Acid, stone, fire, and explosion. Let us know which ones we're fighting, would you please? And don't tell me their names... Tell me like I just said, which one they do when they die. And point out the spellcasters, if they aren't obvious."

"Frankly, I think I'm more worried about what the original residents might have left behind. At least you can hit draconians."

As they discussed the Lyceum and the draconians, the heroes returned to the corridor and moved forward.

As they continued, they soon found another corridor branching off to their right, ending rather abruptly after about 10 yards or so. While the corridor forward entered a large room, which as yet seemed to be empty and high ceilinged.

"Get ready, this looks like a good place for an ambush," he says quietly, heading in to see what's what.

The heroes moved forward into the large room ahead. The domed ceiling was more than 50 feet above them and supported only by the walls that were covered by a great fresco of intricate detail and the painstaking skill of unending patience. The fresco also covered the domed ceiling.

To the left of the corridor they had just entered a statue of a man made of blue marble almost reached to the ceiling and proportionate in every way. Whoever this man was, he dressed like someone devoted to the gods. The lightning blue robes were close to that of the followers of Habbakuk or Mishakal, but still different from both.

Two candles were placed at the feet of the statue and inbetween them someone wearing the same color robes knelt before the statue in prayer.

There were no furniture or other decorations in this room and besides the corridor that had taken them to this room, another left it to their right and another on the other side of the room.

[http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688 for the Lyceum_Overview map and the close up is in the Game Map.]

"Hello," he said, expecting to be attacking in a moment. Guy is probably going to bring the giant to life, and swords will bounce off the stone. "I am Owain."

At first nothing happened, but in a little while the person moved and rose to his feat.

"Hello," he said looking at Owain and the others. "I'm Estigon. How can I help you?"

"Well... We were under the impression this place was abandoned. I presume you live and worship here. Would it be too much trouble to share a bit of the history with us?"

"The Lyceum was once a place of learning for the arcane arts," Estigon said. "It has not been used since the Cataclysm. You will find out the rest in your own time."

"So if it hasn't been used... No offense, but aren't you using it?"

"I'm just the caretaker," Estigon said. “So I’m not so much using it as I’m taking care of it.”

"Oh," he said, a bit disappointed. "I suppose going through here and taking valuable things would not be good, then. We were planning on something like that, since we thought it was abandoned.

"I don't suppose you'd offer a reward for removing those pesky Draconians?"

D'aden smiles as he watches the interchange between Owain and Estigon, then says,  to no one, "The most valuable thing in here was gone when they stopped using the classrooms."

Olven Wolf nods his head.  Ah, the caretaker.  Makes perfect sense.  But the king hadn't mentioned anything about a caretaker here.  He frowns a bit.  "I don't mean to pry, Estigon," he says, inclining his head, "but we weren't briefed on the possibility of someone still living here.  We've been charged with the King of Kalaman to retrieve any items of value that might be useful in rebuilding the kingdom.  Do you need what you have here?  The King requires it, and we have our orders.  Frankly, this place looks deserted."

As a mercenary, Olven always honors his contracts, and even though he doesn't have a formal one with the king, he still has his instructions.  Something doesn't seem right here.

"I remember him," Estigon said. "He was here with a wizard a year or two ago. They got lost though. Managed to get themselves out in the end. You may have the valuables you can carry if you deal with the invaders and do me a favor that we can discuss the details of later.”

"I don't particularly like the idea of an open-ended favor. You seem nice enough, but I don't know you. I would be willing to help you out, most likely. But owing something unspecified seems a bad idea, like agreeing to give up your first born or something- it's quite easy before the toll is due.

"I, as a general rule, don't like to renege on promises. Which means, I also don't like to make promises I might not be able to keep.

"Do you have any information on these invaders? How many there are, and where, would be quite helpful."

"They move around as do you and I," Estigon said. "I'm sure you'll run into them sooner or later. The favor is nothing that will break your honor sir knight. And in any case, you can leave everything here if you don't like it."

"Estigon, will this favor involve harm to either the people of Kalaman or our companions?" Olven asks.  "I'd be happy to help you, especially if that meant fulfilling our obligations to the king, but I can't if that means placing my employer or my comrades in jeopardy." He looks up at the sculpture.  "Nice statue," he says, impressed.

"Oh, another thing.  Have you seen or heard of any human children brought here by the draconians?" he asked.  "Well, teenagers, not children.  We told a farmer we'd help him find them."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Thu 17 Feb 2011.

"I think the invaders have plans for them," Estigon said, answering Olven's last question first. "The favor has nothing to do with Kalaman, but it could place you in some risk."

"I'm not worried about risk," Olven says, shaking his head.  "Risk involves danger, but also opportunity."  Ah, so here was a real clue about the lost kids.  Olven had been concerned that they'd turned their back on them, but his responsibilities were to the king first.  "So you've seen the children, then?  Do you know where they're being held?"

"I do not," Estigon said. "But I'd suspect they are downstairs."

"Excellent," he says. "I tell you what- how about if we agree to be beholden to you, but reserve the right to decide about your favor when you reveal what it is? I do not see much trouble helping you, but as I said, I do not know you. If you should be some evil being masquarading as a genial fellow, it would be foolish to agree to something like that. In good faith, and with the proper requisites, I expect to do your favor for you.

"Is that good enough? We should see if can find these teenagers as soon as we can, I think."

D'aden puts away his staff, and readies his bow. "To rebuild a city this close to anything the draconians are building here would be a bad idea. Perhaps eliminating them would be of more assistance in the King's efforts than any treasure we could carry."
Then he speaks to Estigon, "I am much intrigued as to your request. If you are right about the children, I would feel you are owed a favor. However, it has occurred to me that the draconians we fought could have been looking for the passage we opened. Would we find you here after we've rescued the children, or will you need to go somewhere else?"

"I'll be around," Estigon said. "Though I'm not always here. But I'm sure we'll run into each other again."

"Very well, then. If there's anything else you're willing to share with us, like the design of this place- how many levels it has, how big it is, what traps to avoid, that sort of thing- we'd appreciate it. Otherwise we're off to find those children, so likely a stairway is our next goal."

"Exploration is half the fun," Estigon said with a broad smile. "I'm not going to take that away from you."

"Why did I have a feeling you'd say something like that? If you would be so kind as to point us in the proper direction, to possibly save these youngster's lives, I would be grateful."

Whether or not he does, he asks the others, "Are we ready to search for them now, then? We are, of course, presuming Estigon is telling the truth and is not setting some sort of trap for us. For what it's worth, I believe him."

"If he's telling the truth, we should obviously make saving these children our first priority. If he's sending us into a trap, we should thank him, anyway. Traps are usually closest to the treasure."

Nodding his head, Olven Wolf says, "I couldn't agree more.  Whatever these draconians are doing in the Lyceum, we'll have to deal with them if we want to recover anything of value and return to the city with it.  And now that we know where the children are, we can certainly explore the Lyceum by rescuing them."

Turning to the caretaker, Olven says, "So, a favor for you.  We can do that.  Can you tell us anything you can about this place?  Traps, dangers?  How many draconians are here, and how we can get down to where the children are being held?"

"As I said a few seconds ago," Estigon said. "Exploration is half the fun and I'm not going to take that away from you. I can say that it's not this way though."

Estigon then walked out of the room in the corridor the heroes had come from.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:47, Sat 19 Feb 2011.

"Have a nice day, Estigon," he said as the man left.

"Well... That was unique. As D'aden said, it is a bit irrelevant whether he's telling the truth. Let's get moving in case he isn't and went to warn the troops. Which, again I'm not sure if it's relevant unless he's he's telling the truth about the kids. Let's just be ready- if he is lying, they'll be ready for us. We'll move it quickly enough to hopefully surprise them, but I really just want to get to those kids if he isn't lying."

He heads the opposite way Estigon went. "Boy I hope we don't have to fight that giant statue." His sword and shield are ready.

Olven Wolf shrugs his shoulders.  Either Estigon is an enemy or an ally, but at least they might have confirmation that the missing children are here.  That's good enough for him.  "Do we search this room first?" he asks.  He looks up thoughtfully at the giant statue, wondering if it might have anything useful for their cause.

D'aden smiles, looking back the way Estigon went. "Not that it matters, much, but I think I like the fellow. Whatever else he's done, he's left our lives a bit more entertaining, don't you think?"

"Actually, I agree, and hope he's not lying more for that than the other consequences. We will deal with the rest handily enough either way."

"We can come back to search these places. I think we should have the children as our first priority. There is no telling when their clock will stop ticking, if it has not already."

He moves out. Heading down the right-hand (east? If north is up) passage.

"Lead on, Owain," Olven says, taking up his position in the rearguard.  As the group moves through the Lyceum, Olven stays on alert, ready for any new clues to present themselves.

Owain led the others out of the large room and into a corridor that soon turned to the left into a wider hallway. There were three doors to the left, beyond which another hallway turned left. And a double door in the right wall. The hallway continued onward.

As they turned the corner, mist coalesced into three black dressed forms, though nearly transparent. The first an exotic looking woman in an exquisite robe with two gigantic hooded men behind her, both certainly 7 feet tall.

“Passage through one door may be purchased through the name of the school’s keeper,” the female said gesturing to the three doors on her right.

[See the Lyceum_Overview map at http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688 and the Game Map]

"The school's keeper? Do you mean Estigon?'

"That is correct," she said. "Please open one of these three doors."

"I'm not really sure I want to, yet. Who are you? I'm sure you're not going to tell me, but what is on the other side of the three doors? And, why should I go there, instead of there" [points down unexplored hall] "or there?" [points to double doors]

"You can go where ever you want," she said. "But you have answered my question correctly and you may open one of these three doors and take whatever is behind it. But you cannot open more than one of them."

"Um... go ahead and pick," he says, looking at the rest of the party. Looking back to the girl, he asks, "So you never said who you were. It just seems odd, that you would pop up like that. Would you stop us from proeeding if we had answered incorectly?"

"It would probably be best if he who spoke the name would open the door. We wouldn't want to confuse the issue. I doubt that any ambush would have such a detailed setup, and neither the lady nor her bodyguards seem overtly hostile."

"I am set to protect this place," she said. "And if you had answered incorrectly or try to open more than one door, then I will stop you."

"OK," he tells D'aden. "You can choose which one, though."

To the lady, he asks, "So you're a magical construct of some sort? Not really a person? Or you're bound to this place somehow? Because if you're here against your will, I would like to know."

"Don't be snotty boy," the female said. "If you don't behave I might change my mind."

"I beg your pardon," he says, a bit surprised. "I was not trying to be insulting. I was actually trying help you, if you needed it, which I guess it's pretty obvious you don't. My apologies, Lady. This place is- strange. As near as I can tell, it has been abandoned, for years, yet still has protectors and caretakers. It is not something I can reason out easily, and would like to know- but first, we must see to the children Estigon said were here. Thank you."

"Shall we?" he asks D'aden. "Which one will it be?"

"Hey, pick the door on the left," Olven Wolf says helpfully.  He eyes the woman and her companions.  Not a bad looker, not at all, especially for whatever kind of magical thing she must be.

"Kind of you to offer us one of these doors," he tells her.  "If you need us for anything, don't hesitate to ask."

Something nags at Olven, though, something the king had told him, Nana, and Handar.  Don't repeat our mistake.  "Wait, no!" he says.  "Not the left!  I don't know which one to take, but the king warned us not to take the door on the left!"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:01, Wed 23 Feb 2011.

"Apology accepted," the translucent female said. "This is a magical place after all."

"How kind of you to offer your help mister wolf."

"That's just the kind of guy I am, my lady," he says, bowing his head.  "A man would do many things to see a smile on your face, if you'll forgive my impudence."  Offering to do favors for spectral strangers is probably not a smart thing to do, at least unbidden, but the spirit or whoever she may be is quite the looker.

"Well, if I were to choose, I would choose to turn around. The children would not be past here, presuming the Lady performed her job equally on all, and presuming that Estigon views the Daconians as invaders and would not have introduced himself.

"So our goal is down the other passage in the room we met Estigon. If the left door is bad, it is also possible the rest are, as well, a test of greed. If you all should decide to open one, then I will choose the right-hand door. My vote, however, is none of them.

"What say you?"

(OOC: Sorry, guess I just got to be difficult. :P )

"We don't actually know which way these children are, do we?" Olven Wolf says.  He remains calm, but the caretaker's remark about the fun of exploration bothers him in some way.  He can't shake the feeling that they're all being played.  "So let's go through the door on the right.  For all we know, these kids could be down that hall.  I mean, this is a magical place, right?  So we could go up to go down, or head east to reach the west."

"I'm afraid your prejudice is showing, Owain. The dracs may be unpleasant, but there is no reason to assume they would have been stopped by Estigon, and no reason to believe they would have been unwilling to open a door."
"Plus, you seem to be assuming the children in question were being carried by the dracs, they might have come here on their own, and used the correct name, opened a door, and passed on."
"In any case, it could be that it doesn't matter which door is opened as long as only one is opened."

"Fine," he says, exasperated, and opens the right hand door as he readies his shield (sword is out already).

The heroes opened the door and entered the room. Before them was a cushion with literaly hundreds of platinum coins, a handful of gems, and a hand mirror.

[OOC: The Game Map is updated, but I was unable to upload the updated larger map to Village Photos.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:21, Sat 26 Feb 2011.

D'aden looks at the treasure, and remarks, "I was rather hoping for a map."

"Well, it's what we were asked to retrieve," he comments. "The mirror might be magical. I call the pillow..."

"Very interesting," Olven Wolf says, looking around the room.  "That platinum will come in very handy in the rebuilding effort.  A lot of weight to carry around with us, though.  Should we take it back to the wagon, then?"

He grins at Owain's joke.  "No time for napping yet, eh?  Let's get this loot carted out of here."

Jarl nodded and beginning filling his pouch with the platinum coins.  "We should each take about 70 coins and a gem... If no one minds I will carry the mirror instead of a gem."

"That's good with me, Jarl. But, Olven, if we split it up, it's trivial. Less than 10 pounds each. I believe we can take that without a problem and continue on, yes?"

Olven shrugs.  "Every hundredth of a pound matters," he says.  "I've heard stories of adventurers' lives cut short because they had too much to carry and couldn't escape a particularly nasty trap.  And I'm not even talking about gold and gems, but food and water.  I like to travel with as little extra weight as possible.  But we're here after all to bring this treasure back to the king.  I'd just like to be free of its weight as soon as I can."  Olven loads up his pack with platinum, offering to carry some of the weight for the others if necessary.

"Understood. We may decide to do as you suggested when we find more, but even with all this armor, that little has not slowed me down. In fact, it's even lighter than I thought it would be."

"Well, I'll carry my share. But I feel nervous accepting a gift from some sort of spectral inquisitor, especially if they only question is the name of someone I met just previously."
D'aden will put his portion in his pack.

The heroes divided the money, the gems, and the mirror among them, even taking the cushion with them.

"So- let us go the other way." He looks at the spectral lady. "Thank you very much. I don't suppose you'd tell us if you saw some youngsters here? Or whether you allowed Draconians to pass?"

If she does not, he will head back to the huge blue statue room, and take the other passage. If she does, depending on the answer, that might be the path also.

"I guard these doors," the spectral female said indicating the three doors. "If they want to open a door and pass my test, they may do so. Other than that I don't care."

The heroes moved back and around and walked out through the double doors, just to face another set of metal double doors right in front of them in a corridor that went both left and right.

To the left they could see a door as the corridor turned a corner and back to the right it seemed to lead to where they had talked to the spectral female and her companions.

[http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688 for the Lyceum_Overview image and Game Map for the local view.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:14, Wed 09 Mar 2011.

D'aden puts away his bow, and rests his hand on the hilt of the sword he borrowed. In order to determine the possibility of finding tracks within the halls he takes note of the tracks (if any) they left as they came this way. "It's times like this that a person could use a song to lift their spirits and help them on their way, of course, it's also times like this that a song could alert an enemy and allow them to ambush you."

"so what is your test this time?"

(OOC: I think she was just answering my question, not giving us another test, Jarl. Without being able to see the map from work, it sounds like the coridor turns as it continues past a door. We will head that way, look down the corridor, and check the door.)

"Anyone have any special luck hearing noises or checking if a door is trapped?"

"I'm fairly perceptive, if that's what you mean," Olven says with a grin.  "But no, I'm no good at traps.  Sarah's pretty handy, though."  He pauses to listen down the corridor, trying to catch an audial clue of where they should go next.

D'aden grins, "I'm afraid I spend most of my time out of doors, so I'm not much good at going through them."

The heroes moved to the door around the corner, revealing a corridor that went on for ten more yards or so and another two doors on the left side of the corridor.

Sarah checked the door and listened to see if she could hear anything on the other side.

"It's clear," she said.

[OOC: This time I only updated the Game Map for the corridor.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:59, Thu 10 Mar 2011.

"So, in the double doros?"

If agreed, he will open them.

Jarl nods silently in agreement.

D'aden pulls the sword out, and prepares himself. "I think I'm ready, though I expect whatever's on the other side to have little concern for any violent actions I might take. Perhaps we'll be offered another room full of treasure."

The heroes returned to the double doors, Sarah listened at them and heard nothing, and the heroes entered what obviously was a library with several rows of bookshelves stacked with books. Each book was surrounded by a blue semitransparent force field.

On the end of each bookcase was a plaque with writings in several languages. In Common it said, “Books may only be studied by those with the authorizing key.”

At the other end of the library, they saw another light source. Someone in a black robe was seated at a table flipping through pages of a book and with a stack of books next to him. The black robe was accompanied by four humans dressed in the uniforms of the Red Dragonarmy.

[The last image at http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688 is the overview map of the library. The local map is updated in the Game Map.]

"Let's see if they're foes," he says, weapon ready.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Sat 12 Mar 2011.

Saying nothing, Olven Wolf draws his axe, his shield strapped to his arm.  He is content to let Owain do the talking, but if these are members of the Red Dragonarmy, then they're almost certainly not on the same side.

Walking up toward them, when they notice him, he says simply, "Parley." If they don't, he'll whack them upside the head with a sharp sword.

The heroes approached the black robe and the soldiers, their weapons ready. On the way they noted that there were a couple of books that weren't surrounded by the blue semitransparent force field. As soon as Owain spoke to them, they got ready for combat too.

Round 1

[The heroes get the chance to act first. What do you do?]

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; -1hp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

1 = Black Robe
2-5: Red Dragonarmy
* The small circle on the token indicates the direction you're facing
* The yellow edge on a token indicates that the character has an active light source

[Game Map is updated]
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:05, Mon 14 Mar 2011.

(OOC: which one is black robe?)

"I asked you to parley," he said, pointing his sword at Black Robe, "but thanks for not listening, now we can have some fun.

He steps to hex 3626, uses flurry of blows (1 FP) to feint and attack dude #2.

Jarl focuses his attention on the black robe, murmuring quietly.

15:02, Today: Jarlianthas Erethriel rolled 9 using 3d6. Create water vs 14.

D'aden calmly shrugs, loosening up for the coming exercise, and moves forward to be between the soldiers and the ward master. Setting himself to fend the soldiers from those with more esoteric abilities, he begins to sing,
"Be gladly, masters, every one;
I am come myself alone,
To appease you, one by one;
Let see who dare say nay!
Sir, what say you?
Sing on, let us see.
Now, will it be
This or another day?"
After all, real soldiers wouldn't be unnerved by a battle cry, but they might lose a step or two trying to figure out why their opponent let loose with a tavern ditty.

Wait to intercept opponents that attempt to attack.

Round 1
Owain moved forward to the closest soldier, feinted him to defenselessness, and with two swift strokes cut him in pieces.

Suddenly a sphere of water, about a foot in diameter, appeared above the black robe’s head and instantly fell upon him. His upper body was anything but dry.

D’aden waited.

A fist sized flame wreathed rock appeared in Tarhall’s hand and he threw it at the black robe and the black robe collapsed.

And Sarah kept an eye out behind them.

When the three remaining soldier saw how both the wizard and one of them had been instantly neutralized, all three of them dropped their weapons and raised their hands above their heads.

[What do you do?]

V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; -1hp, -4fp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien -1fp
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth -3fp
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

1 = Black Robe; down
2: Red Dragonarmy; down
3-5: Red Dragonarmy
* The small circle on the token indicates the direction you're facing
* The yellow edge on a token indicates that the character has an active light source

[Game Map is updated]

"Keep 'em up," he said, going to the wizard and making sure he was not going to cause any trouble.

GM passing a message

And just like that, the battle is over before it even begins.  "No sudden movements, now," Olven warns, his axe at the ready.  "What are you doing here?  Can you speak Common?"  He switches to Abanasinian.  "Or can you speak Abanasinian?"

"So are we just going to march these three out of here?  Where's the rest of their unit?"  The mercenary stands at the ready, but with the soldiers neutralized, all he can do is look threatening.

"Well, we really can't kill them once the surender," he said. "I don't suppose leaving them tied up for a bit will matter, but we can't leave them to die, either, that's pretty much the same thing."

He begins to search the wizard, and tie him.

"Of course we can speak Common," one of the soldiers said. "Why shouldn't we be able to speak Common? We were here to look after the wizard. Much good that did him."

[It's 3 that's talking.]

"Well, you guys did good enough where he's still alive."

D'aden begins to look around, expecting this group to be bait and another to attack shortly. "They don't appear to hold quite the enmity the dracs did."

Tarhall joined Owain in searching the black robe.

Owain borrowed Olven's rope and tied the black robe up.

D'aden looked around the library.

Sarah started examening the walls of the library.




V = D'aden Tor VIII
J = Ward Master Jarlianthas Erethriel; -1hp, -4fp
W = Olven Wolf
O = Sir Owain uth Urien -1fp
T = Tarhall uth Veyranth -3fp
K = Kar Reuel
S = Sarah Caladen

1 = Black Robe; down
2: Red Dragonarmy; down
3-5: Red Dragonarmy
* The small circle on the token indicates the direction you're facing
* The yellow edge on a token indicates that the character has an active light source
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:39, Sat 19 Mar 2011.

"OK, all of you up against the wall and facing it, with your hands behind your backs. I'm sure you can understand I'm a bit leery of letting you behind my back, but i will give you my word, if you behave and everything works out, we aren't going to kill you. We don't do that to unarmed men, so you can be all happy it was us and not some unprincipled bunch who would just hack you apart."

Since they should be all against the wall by now, and the wizard tied, he says,
"Tie 'em up, please, D'aden. I will kill any of them that resist." He tells them, "I really don't want prisoners, so if you want to fight your way out, how about you do it now and save us a lot of trouble?"

Jarl goes to the book the black robe was reading and glances over the section being read as well as closing it to read the title.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:54, Sun 20 Mar 2011.

The remaining soldiers lined up against the wall as instructed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:45, Sat 19 Mar 2011.

D'aden walks toward the soldiers, and tells them, "I bet the only reason he asked me to do it because he already used his rope."
As he ties the wrists of the soldiers together, and ties each soldier's wrists at a point on one longer rope, he remarks, "If you were hired as guards, there's no reason we can't be civil about this. I would imagine you'll be together for a fair amount of time, would you care to learn a new harmony? Oh, and have you seen anything of a pair of teenagers in here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Sun 20 Mar 2011.

"I don't think we should be cruel to them. Making them sing... Well, perhaps that would be cruel to us. Just treat them like soldiers."

He looks at them and adds, "But do answer his question, please," as he puts a gag in the wizard's mouth. "Don't worry, this is just for spellcasters. Not that he seemed too effective, but still..."

"Mmm... more secret doors in here folks.  The place seems filled with them."

"Any of you care to share anything you know of this place?" he asks the soldiers. "I can't guarantee anything, but I will look more favorbly on those who co-operate... which you have been doing so far, thank you very much."

They tied up the remaining soldiers and gagged the black robe.

"There's not much to tell about this place," the soldier said.

"Where are the secret doors," Sarah asked Jarl.

"Well good, then it won't take you long. Go ahead and share."

The soldier just shook his head.

"Now see, that sort of attitude annoys me, and tends to make me do things like leave the room when my companions have questions. I'm much nicer than they are.

"But no matter, we'll worry about that in a few minutes, first we check you all for hidden weapons and such."

He checks them all for weapons and valuables. They have, after all, surrendered and forfeit whatever they have.

"You see there behind the left wall a little above the center corridor. The other passage is behind the right wall about at the top end of the book shelves."

Jarl approaches the guard and lays a hand on his head.  "You will tell us the truth."

13:00, Today: Jarlianthas Erethriel rolled 11 using 3d6. Compel Truth vs 13.

"Wizards used to hang out here before the Cataclysm," the guard said. "That's all I know."

Searching for a while, Sarah opened one of the secret passages Jarl had located.

[Game Map updated]

"Told you," he said matter-of-factly. "I wouldn't have cast the spell on you. Why were you here and who is the man in black?"

(OOC: Johnny Cash, of course! :P )

"He's a wizard," the guard said.

D'aden speaks up, "It occurs to me that if anyone were to come in behind us, we would be in much the same position as these soldiers. Perhaps before we ask where they were going, we ask them where they're from?"

"Where are you from?"

He tells D'aden, "I'm not going to mistreat them. They're soldiers, doing their job, and presumably they're here on official business, much like we are. We have competition."

"I'm from Blöde," the soldier said.

As the interrogation continued, Sarah, Kar, and Tarhall searched the room beyond the secret door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:09, Tue 22 Mar 2011.

"Why are you here?"

"As I said earlier, we are here to look after the wizard." the soldier said.

*Sigh*
"Why is the wizard here?"

"You'd have to ask him about that," the soldier said.

Olven shakes his head.  "We have prisoners here," he says, rubbing his chin.  "But we can't keep them, not while we're still exploring this place.  Is there anywhere we can leave them, a stockade of some kind?  I'm of the mind to march them out of here and send them on their way, but they'll just return.  And depriving them of their arms and armor would be cruel.  Sir Owain's right - these men are just doing their job."

He goes to the doorway and looks out in the corridor.  "I'll stand guard out here," he says.  "Let's figure out what to do with our guests and then continue on our way."

"There are two secret passages in this room," Tarhall said. "The one we've looked at leads to a smaller library. We could leave them there for now. Though it's not ideal. Perhaps the other secret passage will help us find a better place to hide them."

"Perhaps one or two of us could watch them while the other's check out that second passage. If they threaten any mischief, I can still teach them to sing."

"We will tie them up, and perhaps a guard would be prudent. I'd rather not waste the manpower, though. I don't suppose anyone has an Oath spell...?"

"However, depriving them of arms and armor isn't cruel. It's rather expected. I'm thinking of letting them keep them. I just don't see any good way to ensure they aren't used on us. Anyone have any ideas?"

(OOC: Did he find anything besides armor & simple weapons on them?)

Olven raises an eyebrow at Owain's remark.  "You think they'll survive an encounter with a group of draconians?" he asks.  "If we had a stockade to keep them in until we could arrange a transfer back to their unit, we could do so.  But depriving them of their arms and armor in here, with the dracs about, could be a death sentence."

Frowning, Olven says, "I didn't foresee that we'd be taking prisoners in here.  Perhaps leaving them in the smaller library is for the best.  Though there's the question of their mage.  He could be trouble."

Turning to the others, he says, "Is there anything of value here that the king would care for us to retrieve?  Valuable manuscripts, that kind of thing?"

"As this is a place of magic and belongs to the Order, I'm taking all the books." Tarhall said. "Or rather the books we can take. If they turn out not to deal with magic, we can give them to the king, but other than that they belong to the Order."

"I haven't seen anything other than books though."

"Well... first, let's get it straight, the order has abandoned this place. We are here on bequest of the King. If there is anything of value, including magical books, it should be disposed of according to the best benefit to the country." Holding his finger up to Tarhall, he adds, "Although I do agree, getting the books the order can use to them, is the best benefit to the country. I'm not real sure how we're going to get them out, but theoretically anyhow, I agree they would be a good gift to the order, from the King."

"About our prisoners... The same problem with the books, I suppose. I do not believe it is necessarily our call to let them return to their unit. However, I see a nice solution to both problems. We get all of the books, have them carry them- we will have to carry them as well, most likely, depending on how many- and make a quick return trip. Let the court decide what to with the prisoners and the books, although I'm pretty sure they will agree with Tarhall about the books. The prisoners- well, they've been fairly cooperative, and if they remain so, I would recommend they see if they can't hire them for our side. I'm sure they have some sort of magic to test their loyalties."

"The wizard bears more watching, and while I don't know what to do with him, I'm sure they would."

(OOC: Has anybody seen to his wounds? How bad are they, he'd probably do that just to make sure he doesn't bleed to death while we're deciding what to do with him.)

"Most of the books are still protected," Tarhall said. "If you touch any of the books surrounded by the blue aura, it's going to hurt a lot. We can take the others though. There were three in the smaller library and from what I've seen out here, there won't be that many here either."

"And if you don't recognize the Order's right to the books, I'm going to claim all of them as part of my salary for doing this job."

[Nothing has been posted about looking at the wizard from a medical point of view, but Kar would have done so.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:38, Sat 26 Mar 2011.

"Well, instead of arguing about it, let's just say the order gets them. I'm sure the court would agree either it's their right, or they need to have them anyhow, so it's kind of a moot point to argue about it.

"Since there really isn't a whole lot of them we can take back... Unless you have some sort of dispel or something you could use? How much are they actually worth, I mean a history of home-spun cloth is kind of useless..."

Smiling more, D'aden says, "For shame, Owain, if history teaches us nothing, it is how important history is."

Sighing, he rubs the horseshoe he has hanging from his belt.

"Yes. I'm sure the history of weaving is quite fascinating, but it will do little to save the kingdom. It is probably one of the ones that are highly protected, though, as valuable as it is."

"How many do we have total?" If the number is small, he will add, "Let us split them amongst us, and continue on. We shall leave our prisoners tied up here, and they will hope we survive as much as we do. The mage we shall leave in another room, tied and gagged. We shall leave a note he can read explaining to him that we intend to return in a reasonable amount of time, and he will not be left to starve or worse."

"Agreed?"

"There were three of them in the secret library," Tarhall said. "I haven't checked how many there are out here. And I can't say how much they are worth without examining them more thoroughly."

"We could leave them here and pick them up on our way back. And I don't have a means to remove the protection."

"It may seem contrary to our orders, and our desires, but it may be prudent to leave the books here. We are certainly not the first to look in this library, and the fact that a book does not have an enchantment to prevent it from being touched does not mean the door does not have an enchantment to keep the books from passing through."

"If there are few books, we can carry them," he says, taking one of the books. Stepping through the door, he says, "And as for protection on the doorway..."

"Now, are we taking them or not? I am for being off and finding the children. They likely have a short time, and we waste it. Leave the books here for later, take them, however you like. Let's tie these men up and get moving. I am impatient."

"I'm not particularly impatient, but I would agree.  Choose a few to take with you or come back for them.  We need to find the children."

Taking them at their word, D'aden makes sure the soldiers are secured and attempts to leave the library, sans books.

"Right, let's move on," Olven says, nodding his head.  He makes sure the soldiers are safe from wandering dracs before leaving the library.  "I'm worried about that spellcaster.  Probably would have been better for all of us if we could have taken him along with us, trussed up."

He assumes his position as the rearguard.

"No, we take special precautions," he says. "He goes in another room, and we have him tied and gagged, and we tie his fingers together as well. No finger waggling that way, he might be good enough to cast without voice or finger waggling, but I'm willing to gamble he is not good enough to cast without both. Even then, it'd probably be some rare spell that won't do much good."

The heroes left the library, soldiers and the wizard tied up.

[I've updated the Game Map. To the left are three doors and to the right is one door, just around the corner from the room you raided earlier.]

D'aden decides it wouldn't hurt to get a closer look at the possibilities, so he walks off to the right to get a look at the door. Has it been used recently? Is there any indication, on the door, as to what is beyond the door?

[OOC: I'm not home and I don't have access to my mapping software, so I can't update the map.]

The heroes went to the next door and looked at it. Like other doors, it had wizard themes depicted on it and the handle was shaped like a hand. There was no visual evidence that the door had been used recently or not. Nor any conclusive evidence as to what might be behind the door.

He opens the door and looks in.

"I don't like these handles," he says, trying to figure out some way to turn it without his hand, a dagger or something.

Watching the others' backs, Olven keeps a look-out from the rear.  "Probably a way to magic it open, I bet," he offers.  "What do you think, Tarhall?  Did the wizards of the Lyceum have another way of opening these doors?"

"I didn't find anything out about that when I asked around," Tarhall said.

As before the hand that was the door handle grabbed Owain's hand and didn't let go until the door was opened.

Inside they found a chair, a desk, and some cabinets. None of which seemed to have been used for centuries.

"I'll take the cabinets," Olven says, crossing the room and beginning to search through them.  He's looking for anything interesting - documents, books, hoards of gold, whatever.

Olven looked in the cabinets and found some documents.

Playing with the handle a bit, he tries to discover if it can open some other way... likely, it simply needs a person's hand, but he wants to make sure.

"Them handles give me the creeps. Hand-L's, get it?" he chuckles a little.

"Find anything good?"

Owain worked with the door and the handle.

Jarl decided to look through the desk while the others searched the rest of the room.

"Hand-Ls?  Ha!" Olven grins as he withdraws a few documents.  "Most of these have crumbled from decay, but I found a few papers that are still okay.  I don't recognize the language, though." He spreads them on the desk so the others can have a look.

[OOC: None of you recognize the language.]

"It seems to be the same script used in those magic books we found in the library," Tarhall said. "But it's not one that I know."

"It's probably old enough that use has faded, and only a scholar of the ancient ways would be able to read it, or it could be just badly mis-spelled."
Apparently, D'aden is rather proud of that one, as he smiles contentedly while he re-arranges his gear and resumes carrying his bow.

"So, let's keep going..."

(Er... to the next place we was gonna go... I forget?)

Nodding, Olven says, "Do we want to hang onto these documents?  Anyone have anywhere safe to put them?" Once they're finished, he follows the others back into the hall, his spear in hand, once more taking up the rear guard.

"I have some room in my pack, it's no vault, but should suffice."

Rolling the papers up, Olven hands them to Owain.  "OK, you can take them if you'd like," he says.  "Well, let's get going, then."

The heroes left the room. The corridor continued to the left and there were a number of doors they hadn't explored yet. And to the right there were areas they had as yet not looked at.

[OOC: The Game Map is updated]

The heroes went to the bend in the corridor. Three doors in the left wall after the turn and the corridor ending in the distance without other exits.

[OOC: The Game Map has been updated]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:16, Thu 26 May 2011.

"Door one?" he asked, gesturing and readying to open it.

"Perhaps we should knock, first. There appear to be more people here than I expected."
D'aden motions to go ahead, but is watching the other doors.

He opens the door.

At the back of the group, Olven stays alert, ready for action, axe in hand.

Looking inside, they saw a room that seemed to be occupied, though no one was in the room at the moment. Candles were lit, there was a bed, a desk, a chest, and a closet.

The floor and walls were the same hewn stone they had seen elsewhere in the Lyceum. But the candles excuded a musty scent that was difficult to place.

[OOC: Game Map has been updated]

"Check for valuables," he suggested. "It's not stealing if they're miscreants, and if they're not, we can always return them later with an apology."

"If they left the candles lit, they would intend to return soon. Perhaps awaiting them would be a better plan. They may have went to retrieve a valuable, and they may have a way to secure them so that we can claim more than we can carry."

"Candles last hours, and there's something funny about these. If you don't like it, we can continue on, but waiting is a poor proposition, I think."

"For an abandoned arcane repository, there sure is a lot of traffic around here," Olven says.  "Let's search the room quickly and continue on." He walks into the room and begins searching for items of interest.

Owain stands watch making sure no one is coming.

Olven searched through the room quickly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:29, Thu 02 June 2011.

"Found a couple of things here.  A composite bow and quiver, some clothes, a decorated halberd."  He brings out the weapons.  "Should we leave 'em here or take them with us?  D'aden, any idea what these are worth?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:31, Thu 02 June 2011.

"Let me take a look at it, but if you don't mind my saying so, taking items from what appears to be a person's dwelling feels a bit like thievery. I don't like feeling that way."
D'aden will examine the bow, wondering both about what it's worth and how long has it been here.

D'aden examined the composite bow.

"It's not a bad bow, I'm sure it's worth something. I would still suggest we attempt to locate the owner rather than assume it's salvage."

"Meh. Unless they're magical, they're not worth much, relatively. I say it's better to keep the goodwill of the occupant and leave them. And I don't think even if the fancy halberd is magical, it'd be very useful. Not many use that weapon.

"Shall we continue to the next door?"

Tarhall entered the room and looked around. "Actually that halberd is magical," he said and touched the bow. "I don't get anything from the bow though."

"Considering what we've seen thus far, I wonder why anyone would leave these things behind, especially with no lock. I'll step out and watch while you decide what to do."
D'aden places the bow on the desk, and moves to leave the room. It is apparent he's ready to move on.

The heroes continued to the next door.

Before they leave, Olven scoops up the halberd and bow and carries them with him.  "First chance we get, I'll take these weapons back to our cart," he says.  "I don't know if the king wants them or not, but I'd rather err on the side of caution."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Tue 14 June 2011.

The heroes continued to the second of three doors in the tail end of the corridor.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe."  Olven chooses a door at random.  "Let's go through this one, eh?"  He stays alert, mindful that enemies could strike at any moment.

OOC:  Could we get a map of where we are as a refresher?

[OOC: I've updated the Game Map, but I note that I forgot to move the heroes to the middle door in the corridor. I also added a new overview map at VillagePhotos, http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2011-2/1364172/2151688]

"As we open each door, I find myself waffling between preparing to fight and preparing to sing. I think this time I'll choose fight."
As he moves, D'aden readies his bow and pulls an arrow.

"While I do have an excellent voice, I'd prefer you wait until we were gathered around with a drink in our hands. I will join you, then. For now, please warn me before you break out in song. Although I'm sure it would attrack all sorts of denizens, we likely wouldn't be bored, anyhow..."

"I'm beginning to get the impression that the somewhat convoluted nature of this place has made the denizens used to unusual noises."
When he realizes, a moment later, that he has characterized his own voice as 'unusual noise', he shrugs and mumbles, "so to speak."

"Well then I shouldn't join you, since my voice isn't unusual at all," he chides.

Olven Wolf pushes the door open and peers inside, scanning the room for trouble.  "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he says, "or we'll force you to listen to D'aden's songs."

OOC:  Opening the door in the bottom NW of the game map.

Olven opened the door outward into the corridor, his hand grabbed by the handle until the door was fully opened before it released its grip. The walls of the room inside was covered by tapestries in black and gold. Items woven into them enchanted to illuminate the room in a pale blue light.

The place radiated of death and the markings on furniture emphasized that feeling. A cluttered table filled the opposite corner, a wardrobe and a chest right next to the doorway, and a bed in the far left corner.

[OOC: Unfortunately there seems to be some problem  uploading the map, both here and at Village Photos.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:23, Thu 11 Aug 2011.

"Good thing I didn't choose to sing, I don't know any dirges."

"Anybody else get a bad feeling about this place?" Olven mutters, scanning the inside.  "No children here.  Let's take a quick look and move on."  Careful not to touch anything, the mercenary slowly walks around the room, looking for anything useful.  He uses his spear to try to open the wardrobe and chest.  "Tarhall, anything useful over there on that table?" he asks.

"A pentagram quilt. How quaint. I wonder if the occupant might be some sort of mage...?"

D'aden approaches the bed, saying, "Do you think they could still be in the bed, and perhaps we are unable to see them?"
Then he grins as the thought hits him, "Perhaps the quilt, itself, is obscuring our view of the occupant." Using the arrow he had prepared to nock, D'aden turns down the quilt to see if anyone is in the bed.

Olven opened the wardrobe with his spear and with more effort and time, he opened the chest too.


“Some of this could be useful,” Tarhall said after taking a look at the cluttered desk. “For a wizard. Or an alchemist. But it would take time and effort to figure out what it is. If it’s useful at all.”

“That scroll case or what’s in it is the only magical thing I see in here.”

The scroll case Tarhall was talking about laid on the pillow as D’aden used his arrow to turned the quilt over to discover anyone hiding beneath it.


“And yes, whoever lives here is definitely a mage,” Tarhall replied to Owain’s musings.

Opening the tube (pointed away from him) and unrolling the scroll a little, he lets it roll back up as he hands both off to someone more magerly than he.

"I can tell, 'tis powerfully strong parchment..."

Olven nods his head.  "Ok, Tarhall, could you take possession of the scroll case, then?  We'll let the king determine whether he wants to keep it or not.  Kalaman can use everything it can in the rebuilding effort.  We can come back to this room if we have more time.  So, shall we continue?"

"I'll take it," Tarhall said.

"Powerful strong, won't rip at all.." he winks, handing it over.