"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.