Your flickering light shows a small 5' x 10' entry hall.  To the left is a hat rack and hooks on the wall, all empty.  Ahead, are a short set of stairs that go up to a landing.  To the right, an open doorway opens onto a trophy room.  The north and south walls of this room once featured shelves of hunting trophies—primarily elk, boars, and bears.  All have been ripped from the walls and lie scattered on the floor.  The entry hall itself has long dried mud on the floor.  Someone has obviously tossed the place several days ago.  There is also an unlit fireplace on the north wall.
[Private to Jan Harlow: It looks professional, probably by low level rogues.  If there is anything around, it's going to be well hidden.]

Garth leads the way into the trophy room, since there is so little room in the entry hall.  From that vantage point he can see a closed door at the end of the trophy room.

Talis pauses in the entry hall to put on his chain shirt.

Action while Talis is busy?
Direction - door or stairs?

Map has been updated.

Garth will go into the trophy room and check out the closed door, hand on scimitar hilt and shield at the ready.

Miriam held the torch aloft with her shield arm as Talis changed into his armor.  She drifted over to the fireplace and glanced within, checking to see how long it looked like it had been used, then took a glance at the shelves as well, to see if anything might have been overlooked there.

[Private to Talis Revain: You have it at the "Don Hastily" Stage, Ac is at -1 (so only +3 for the chain shirt).  It will take 5 rounds to complete putting it on.]
As Miriam and Garth move into the room, and Talis is still securing his chain shirt, a light suddenly appears from under the door (in front of Garth) and you hear a voice on the other side, followed by footsteps.
[Private to Miriam: The fireplace has not been used in at least a couple of weeks, quite unusual for fall.  The trophies are all covered in a thin layer of dust, consistent with the same time frame.]
[Private to Miriam; Tanrov: A womans voice says, "Honey, I thought I heard something, go check it out."  Followed by steps approaching the door as the door starts to open.]
[Private to Catessa Fallowfield: Murphis is currently not reacting to anything unusual...yet.]

What do you do?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:13, Tue 28 June 2011.

Jan looks around curiously as he crouches down by a patch of mud. He cocks his head at it for a long moment, thinking about it. As he does this he draws a sunrod and plays with it, keeping it unlit for the moment. Jan entertains the thought of brewing more extracts, but decides to hold off until he can't find things himself. It would be cheating himself out of a puzzle if he just did that now.

Jan looks up from where he is crouched, something was going on. His hand rests near his belt.

---
OOC: I assume I am nearby all this light under the door hullabaloo?
[Private to GM: 14:26, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 27 using 1d20+7. Survival. The mud, any tracks or other interesting bits of information? Can I tell where the person that left the tracts moved and stood?
14:24, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 27 using 1d20+10. Knowledge:Nature. What type of mud is it? There anything interesting about it that might require a Alchemy check? The scent of chemicals or color that suggests industrial waste?
14:23, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 24 using 1d20+11. Perception. Anything interesting? Smells, sights? Enemies?]
[Private to Jan Harlow: There's not a whole lot of mud, thinking back to your trip here, the streets leading here are stone.  You can conclude that this is normal mud from someone coming in off the street when it was wet, not from anywhere muddy (like a dirt street).  You recall Aldern's sister mentioning that he is married.  Either his wife (or a servant) is a horrible housekeeper or she hasn't been around awhile.  Otherwise it surely would have been cleaned up by now.  It's likely that it is multiple medium sized people, at multiple times, but impossible to tell for sure how many, when or in what types of groups.  There are a few things interesting about the dirt, but nothing that can't be explained by being dirt in Magnimar (a city built around an incredible ancient and magical monument).  A detailed analysis might be helpful, but that would take time and proper alchemy equipment.

If you look on the map in the Map folder, you are with Cat and Talis in the entry hall, while Garth and Miriam are in the bigger room.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:52, Wed 29 June 2011.

Talis reacts quickly, moving toward the voice/footsteps.  He sees the light as he enters the trophy room and, makes a motion for people to be quiet.  Moving toward the door as quietly as his speed allows, he draws a sap and activates a shield of force.  He takes up position next to the door and readies an action to attack, with the sap, whoever opens the door.

Draw weapon - free with move
ring force shield - free

While all this is going on, Garth will draw out his sword waiting for the door to open and move in, all the while backing up Talis.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Wed 29 June 2011.

Miriam looks up from where she's checking out the fireplace at the sounds and light from behind the door.  Noting Talis' ambushing position, she moves over behind him, her free hand brushing his back as she leans in to whisper something to him.

[Private to Talis Revain; DM: Miriam whispers, "There are at least two people in there - man and woman."

OOC: Touching Talis to use her Bit of Luck ability on him - for the next round, anytime Talis rolls a d20, he can roll 2 and take the most favorable result.  6/7 uses remaining.]

Round 0 - readied actions
Garth starts to help Talis and then stops and stares at the woman on who opened the door, his mouth agape.

Talis also stares at her, but collects his wits and swings.  Expecting her to stand still in surprise, he is surprised when she dodges behind the doorway, but luckily gets a hit anyway.
Hit for 16 non-lethal damage, see ooc thread for comments on damage

Round 1
She was expecting someone to be in here, so no surprise round.  You see a pretty darkhaired Varisian woman in her 20's.  She wears a lovely dress and carries a candle in 1 hand and a mw longsword in the other.  Behind her you can see a small dining room.  The woman reacts to the attack with shock and alarm...
[Private to Catessa Fallowfield; Talis Revain; Tanrov: You recognize her from her picture and from her dead Revenant body...it's a living, breathing Ieesha Foxglove...or is it?]
[Private to Jan Harlow; Miriam: Garth and Talis are acting funny, almost like they know who this is and are surprised to see her.]

Only Miriam got initiative - so Miriam may post an action, everyone else may only talk.


Tactical Situation
See Map - your voice color indicates your character.

            dam      status


IF         - 16sub[Private to GM: 11]



Everyone may Post;
<Please include the following at the top of you post in orange-

Name AC x ;HP CURRENT/TOTAL>]

Garth  AC:    HP: current
           18        68


"Ieesha, I, I, um I, I thought you were dead."  Garth says staring at the image of Ieesha personage.   "Sarenrae please give me the strength to overcome this trial," I says as slowly start to move again and this time hopefully after the wiser Talis' actions.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:18, Thu 30 June 2011.

Miriam AC 19; HP 48/48

"Or two women, perhaps?", Miriam says, confused by what she'd heard and also by the reactions of Talis and Garth.  But the woman was still armed and presumably dangerous, and Miriam had ways of stopping people without harming them.  Moving up just beside Talis, she uttered a single word at the woman, backed by the magic of her faith, "Halt.", hoping a pause in the action would give someone a chance to tell her what was going on.

[Private to DM: Casting Command (halt).  DC 16 Will save to negate.]

Round 1
Miriam casts a spell.

Iesha Foxglove pauses as she was about to take a step back, but the compulsion of the spell takes hold and she doesn't take an action.  She looks scared.

Tactical Situation
See Map - except Miriam is beside, not behind Talis.  Iesha is "halted", but not flat-footed.  She can still defend herself.
Now everyone may post, either the 1st round or (Miriams)2nd round.

            dam      status
IF         - 16sub   halted [Private to GM: 11]



Everyone may Post;
<Please include the following at the top of you post in orange-

Name AC x ;HP CURRENT/TOTAL>]

Jan: AC 18 ; HP 36/36

Jan makes a confused sound as he looks up from the mud, getting to his feet. With a huff, he strikes the sunrod against his kneee to light it. If need be, he would throw it aside to light up the darkness, but for now he stays calm as his off hand rests near his extracts and mutagen.

"...What is going on now?" Jan asks airily as he frowns. It looked like they were planning on killing this woman, it irked him. Fleeing the city due to a murder charge would be so bothersome. He feels himself grow excited though, his blood feels hot. Jan smiles softly, as he feels light on his feet.

[Private to GM: OOC: If it looks like combat is going to be tough, Jan will throw his sunrod into the room that the fight his taking place in to ensure light. Then he will drink his mutagen.
15:08, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 28 using 1d20+11. Perception. Anyone else in the house?]

Ac 18 48/48

Talis grimly says, "This will only hurt for a moment Iesha, or whoever you are.  We can sort this out once you are sleeping." as he swings his sap again, this time barely missing.  He wondered if Iesha could have a twin sister.

Ac 18 58/58

Garth will tried his hand at nonlethal damage and move up to hit.

12:52, Today: Tanrov rolled 7 using 1d6+5.
12:50, Today: Tanrov rolled 27 using 1d20+11.

DM edit: Your to hit is less because you are doing subdual damage with a lethal weapon, but I will take care of that.[Private to Tanrov: Put in some characterization please...]
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:45, Sun 03 July 2011.

Cat   AC:17 HP:36
Murph AC:20 HP:60

Iesha?? What the hells? Cat strides towards their former ally, not sure why the group is trying to beat the woman up, "Iesha?  What are you doing here?"

Round 1
Jan lights his sunrod and the light from the eternal torch is augmented by the magical and steady light it produces.

Talis swings again and Iesha moves very quickly to avoid it, so he misses.  She gives a little scream, "Help honey, robbers and murderers."

Catessa Fallowfield & Murphis move forward.

Tanrov/Garth hits her with the pommel of the scimitar, obviously trying to just knock her out, but just gets a glancing blow which doesn't appear to injure her much, if any.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere 3 dire rats appear and attack.
(Summons, Illusions, Teleporting, Dimensional Shifting, Invisibility?  Who knows?)
Rats 1-3 try to bite Cat, Miriam and Jan - but only get mouthfuls of armor.

Round 2
[Private to Miriam: I hope you don't mind, I acted for you.]
Miriam instinctively swings her eternal torch at the rat in an effort to drive it away.  The rat flinches at the flame, but does not run away.  It's easy to see that the rat is not reacting as a normal rat would.  These are either very well trained, not real rats or there is magic involved.

Iesha Foxglove almost has some luck with the sword, barely missing Garth.  Then she retreats 5' into the corner so Talis can't get to her.  She screams at the open door, "Aldern, help me", desperation in her voice.  She drops the candle, which rolls under the table and goes out, leaving the dining room in shadows (20% concealment unless you have darkvision, lowlight vision or are attacking toward the doorway into the other room.)

Tactical Situation
See Map


            dam      status
IF         - 23sub   halted [Private to GM: 13]
Rats1
    2
    3



Everyone may Post;
<Please include the following at the top of you post in orange-

Name AC x ;HP CURRENT/TOTAL>]
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:50, Tue 05 July 2011.

Ac 18 8/48

Talis responds to his targets cries for help with some witty repartee, "As I try to batter you into unconsciousness and you try to perforate me with your sword, might I ask how you look so much like Iesha Foxglove?.  Garth, follow me..." as he moves into the dining room and jumps up on the table.  From this vantage point he will try to strike at the Iesha clone-twin-whatever.

13 hit
made the concealment roll
13 acrobatics to avoid Aoo
29 to jump on table

DM Edit;
As Talis moves into the room, a man jumps out from around the corner opposite Iesha  [Private to Catessa Fallowfield; Talis Revain; Tanrov: This looks like Aldern Foxglove!] and attacks Talis, "I'm here my love, I will protect you."  He easily hits, and he hits precisely and hard (sneak attack and high str), for 23 damage.  He is a good looking man of Chelaxian origin, wears nice clothes and bears another masterwork long sword.  Aldern Foxglove?  At the same time, Iesha takes an Aoo - also hitting and doing 17 damage (also; sneak attack and high str).  She is alot stronger than she looks...

Talis easily jumps on the table, but misses Iesha sliding across to the other side into the corner next to "Aldern", and misses him.

Talis responds to this new threat, confirming his supposed identity, "Ouch, wait, we redeaded you a week ago, you can't be Aldern."

Can I tweak my action?  After taking all that damage I want to continue to the other side of the table into the corner next to "Aldern" and fight defensively?

DM Edit;
OK
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:47, Tue 05 July 2011.

Miriam AC 19; HP 48/48

Miriam frowned at the sudden appearance of the rats, having somewhat more limited options to fight rats than she did people or the undead.  Seeing Talis take a hard shot from the newcomer inside the room, she decides to take a different tack in any case, stepping carefully away from the rats before lifting her holy symbol out of its hiding place in the bodice of her dress, letting it hang freely once more, a moment before she began to glow, a surge of positive energy washing out from her to restore some of Talis' vitality, though not that of the woman they'd attacked.

Channeling positive energy to heal wounds.  Using Selective Channel to not hit Iesha, Aldern or the closest of the rats.  12:04, Today: Miriam rolled 16 using 3d6. Selective Channel.

Cat   AC:17 HP:36
Murph AC:20 HP:60

Cat groans at seeing Aldern, if it is him. She moves back to toss her dagger at a rat, sending her new companion after another. "Are we sure we want to fight him, again???"

rolls:
15:32, Today: Catessa Fallowfield rolled 17 using 1d20+8. attack.
15:32, Today: Catessa Fallowfield rolled 4 using 1d3+1. damage.
15:34, Today: Catessa Fallowfield rolled 24 using 1d20+4. attack for Murphis.
15:35, Today: Catessa Fallowfield rolled 9 using 1d6+6. damage - critical?.
15:35, Today: Catessa Fallowfield rolled 10 using 1d6+6. damage.

Jan: AC 18+2 ; HP 36/36

"This looks fun, hahahaha!" Jan laughs excitedly as he draws a small vial from somewhere on his belt. He uncorks the vial with his teeth, the Alchemist drinks the vial with a look of relish as he ignores the giant rats.

Jan sighs with almost orgasmic delight as he undergoes a rapid and startling transformation. Bones crunch, clothes shift, and fur grows and within moments Jan has transformed into a tall bestial-looking wolf-like creature, with long disproportionate limbs, a tail, and midnight black and pale white fur.

"Grrr, out uf de vay, Hy vant to fight!" Jan growls like a feral animal as he moves past Cat, Talis, and Miriam, his somewhat stooped stance taking away from his increased height. The sunrod in his paw-like hand looks absolutely out of place.


OOC: Standard Action used to drink mutagen. Subtitle: Grrr, out of the way, I want to fight!
+2 natural armor bonus, a +4 alchemical bonus to STR, + 2 claw attacks, and +1 bite attack. -2 to INT.

Ac 18 58/58

Garth sees Aldern and his eyes grow big, he grips his scimitar back to a lethal grip and steps forward to attack him.

09:53, Tanrov, rolled 11 using 1d6+5.
09:53, Tanrov, rolled 23 using 1d20+10.

Round 2
Jan transforms into a horrible (seriously, with what adventurers face, Jan doesn't look that bad...really :)) feral critter and shoulders his way into the dining room, lighting it up.  The rats all snap at him as he moves by, but again all of them do no damage.  As Jan enters the dining room, the man behind the wall (Aldern) uses his readied action to attack - hitting for 16 damage.

Talis tries to tumble through Jan to stand on the table, but his skill fails him and he suffers 2 Aoo (previously detailed).  He continues over to the far corner to confront Aldern.

Murphis eagerly grabs his and and shakes it.  It vanishes.
Catessa Fallowfield throws a dagger which buries itself in the rat, but doesn't kill it.
This confirms that these are summoned creatures.  But by whom and from where?  It can't be to far away.

Tanrov/Garth wanting to do what Talis did, Garth moves past Jan and jumps on the table, hoping their focus on Talis was all they could do (no more Aoo).  However, they prove quicker than he thought and they both attack him as he goes by - Aldern hits for 16 damage, but Iesha misses.  Striking at Aldern he hits.

Rats 2,3 focus on the dog.  There's alot of snapping and hissing and 1 manages to get in close, but the dogs armor saved him from a nasty bite.

Again, from wherever Summoned Creatures come from, a big snarling
Wolf appears beside Miriam and attacks her.  It hits, doing 8 damage.  It tries to trip her, but fails.

Round 3
Miriam channels positive energy that heals everyone (16hp) in the group.  Talis stops bleeding and looks much better.  While she can't select out all the opposition, she can select out all the injured opposition.

"Iesha" Iesha and Aldern look at each other with an eager smile and nod in unison.  Their flesh seems to relax (like when you hold a muscle, and then suddenly relax it) and their features vanish.  You now face a thing of skin and dislocation and horror. A featureless humanoid shape with hairless, scaly flesh like a dark crimson snake, its long stretching fingers twitch and writhe. Its form is horrifically human, and yet at the same time frightfully pliant.  "She", for it is difficult to tell them apart, attacks Jan savagely with the sword in 1 hand, but misses.
[Private to Tanrov: Tanrov can put a name to these things, Faceless Stalkers.  They are a nomadic and savagely malevolent race of shapechanging aberrations whose methods and nature mark them more as parasites or diseases than actual residents of the places they inhabit.  They sometimes act as spies and assasins for powerful evil people and creatures.]


"Aldern" also attacks Jan, and hits, doing 15 damage.  They say nothing, the charade is over.  Now death seems to be the only thing on their minds.

Tactical Situation
See Map
IF/AF are arrows
rats are triangles
wolf is a diamond
Next round I am moving all the opposition to after Miriam in initiative.

            dam      status
IF         - 23sub   [Private to GM: 13]
AF         - 11
Rats1      - 10      gone
    2      - 4
    3      -
Wolf       -


Everyone may Post;
<Please include the following at the top of you post in orange-

Name AC x ;HP CURRENT/TOTAL>]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:02, Wed 06 July 2011.

Jan: AC 18+2 ; HP 21/36

Jan growled angrily and stumbled as he felt steel bite into his back. With a roar he swung his claws down at the thing in front of him. He then launched himself at the thing in front of him and bit down and tried to rip a piece off.

15:56, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 11 using 1d8+3. Bite Attack Damage.
15:56, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 5 using 1d6+3. Claw Attack Damage.
15:56, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 4 using 1d6+3. Claw Attack Damage.
15:55, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 19 using 1d20+7. Bite Attack.
15:55, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 24 using 1d20+7. Claw Attack.
15:55, Today: Jan Harlow rolled 8 using 1d20+7. Claw Attack. Fail!

DM edit- it tastes awful :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:58, Thu 07 July 2011.

Ac 18+2 24/48

A look of relief washes over his face as the positive energy heals his wounds, "Thanks.  You know, I think I liked you better as Iesha, you were easier on the eyes" as he focuses on his target.  To Cat; "Little Mother, any chance of doing unto them and giving this "Aldern" fellow something on the other side to distract him."

I sure could use a flanking buddy (with a Summon Monster/Natures Ally right about now.  Talis will delay until Cat has gone.  Then fight defensively.

[Private to GM: 8  hit includes a possible flanking bonus]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:13, Thu 07 July 2011.