"Alright then, let's try to force the door."  Virgil pulls an iron spike from a small leather bag.  "With a hammer, this might wedge it open enough to fit that crowbar in and yank."

"And if that doesn't work," Dante adds absently, his eyes and hands on the curve of his new bow, which reminds him of the graceful curves of a certain beauteous lady, "we can follow Felix's idea and use the flagstone as a battering ram."

"All that noise will surely alert whoever is inside.  Those with ranged weapons should stand back and keep a weather-eye out for trouble."  Milton is sure this is a bad idea, almost comical in its over-eagerness.  But then he is a jester, so he just shakes his head and goes to the door to help.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:31, Tue 09 July 2013.

In reply to Gethin Ballider (msg # 91):

Bill asks the group "Should we check it for any traps before we go messing with it?"

Dave shrugs and says Suit yourself, mate.  As long as you're the one checking.

Bill moves back over to in front of the tower door and gives it a good looking over for any type of trip wires or the like he can see that would trigger a trap..


15:50, Today: Dourdoff rolled 8 using 1d10. Search Check for Traps.

It's on the tip of his tongue. The name of the chaos god, not the flies. They're there, too.

Nim-lu-run, he painstakingly pronounces.

The bandages are dry neither enriched by a healing salve nor ... envenomed.

About the green powder none of the assembled can speak confidently. Either experimentation or expertise, one of which is missing.

Of the myriad options for storming the tower, the group deems wedging to be too weaselly and hammering the door down with small tools to be too prosaic. But launching the flagstone from the fingertips of eight men from which it sails forth to smite the leering door? Epic, or so declare Dante, Milton, and Virgil.

It is epic!

The hot stench of rot rolls from the tower, raising bile in the back of your throat. The floor of the wide tower is covered in rotting hides of cattle, sheep and men. A narrow staircase spirals around the tower wall. Dark forms hang from chains spiked through the wall—surely these are your fellow countrymen!

A pack of snarling beast-men slowly emerges from the shadows, bloody spears clutched in their gnarled hands!

Roll one Init for each Pod! Beat 10 to act first!

OOC No bonus to your roll, Josh, but I decided the name of the chaos god would be common knowledge. Only attribute-specific skill checks enjoy bonuses or penalties.

17:54, Today: Dourdoff rolled 18 using 1d20. Initiative Roll.

The Brothers of Another Mother were slow to react the approaching beast-men, whether it be through fear, inattentiveness, or analysis paralysis. Perhaps all three?

13:43, Today: Udly rolled 8 using 1d20. init.

The Red Dwarves prepare for combat...

Josh rolled 16 using 1d20. initiative.

Real content coming after questions in the OOC thread have been clarified

Dante had stayed back with his new longbow readied.  Virgil and Milton had helped with the battering.  They're overcome by the grisly sight inside -- Virgil blanches, Dante retches, Milton gives a slow sad shake of his head at the sinful state of the world -- and are too slow to get the first blow in.

Initiative = 9

The sight of the tower's insides is gruesome enough, but something in it makes Del blanch so that she's white like a sheet. ''No...'', she whispers, clutching at her wrapped hand. Perhaps she imagines some horror beyond compare, or perhaps she's just gripped by madness (again).

Ripping her dagger free she storms forward, into the hellhole of the tower, and jumps the nearest beastman. Screaming all the time.

Sidd, who even if not as strong as Del had also been helping with the slab, looks confused after his friend, and then grips his shovel. ''Like Krishna I will vanquish the demons! Wait, I'll help you, Del!''

His shovel is easily deflected by the beast's thick hide though. It doesn't matter. Del's dagger has already found the beast's eye and has pierced its skull.


Yay, crit! How are those handled?
21:31, Today: Levkojen rolled 20,4 using d20,d20. Del, Sidd, Attacks vs BM1.

In reply to Levkojen (msg # 100):

Dour yells out "If n me dont make it through the battle then the more o' ale an mead and wenches with me brothers that done moved on to the halls afore me!' and he immediately attacks BM#2 with a quick swing of his mace to the beasts midsection
15:44, Today: Dourdoff rolled 6 using 1d20+1. Dourdoff Mace Attack Roll.
15:44, Today: Dourdoff rolled 3 using 1d6+1. Dourdoff Mace Damage Roll.

Callum on the other hand, says nothing and draws his newly found longsword and goes for a stab at the BM#2 midsection as well.. His sow pig squealing the whole time..

15:47, Today: Dourdoff rolled 19 using 1d20+1. Callum Longsword Attack Roll.
15:47, Today: Dourdoff rolled 9 using 1d8+1. Callum Longsword Damage Roll.

Bill moves in around his two dwarf companions and tries to land a stab with his dagger to BM#2 backside..
15:52, Today: Dourdoff rolled 6 using 1d20. Bill Dagger Attack Roll.
15:52, Today: Dourdoff rolled 1 using 1d4. Bill Dagger Damage Roll.

Arnie sees Del getting herself into a position where she might become surrounded by beastmen, and runs in after her as quickly as he can.  As he does so he pulls out a filthy, dirt-encrusted trowel and shouts I'll keep you safe, fair maiden!  Since she appears to have taken care of the nearest beastman well enough, Arnie goes for the next closest one and hits it as hard as he can.  He doesn't notice just yet whether or not that's hard enough to break through any armor it might be wearing.

Meanwhile, Dave shouts from the back Oi!  I'm trying to line up a shot here, It's not going to help if you get in my way!  He lets loose an arrow anyway, trusting in his years of hunting experience to guide it properly.  He is not disappointed.

Felix, having wisely not done any of the heavy lifting with the stone slab, is too far away to do anything at the moment.  He pulls a wickedly sharp awl from one of his pockets and casually strolls over to the doorway, where he waits off to the side (no need to get in Dave's way).

Arnie attacks #3...
Josh rolled 12 using 1d20. Arnie melee attack.
  Josh rolled 4 using 1d4. damage? (just in case 12 was good enough to hit)

Dave shoots at #4...
Josh rolled 20 using 1d20. Dave missile attack.
  Josh rolled 3,3 using d6,d4. damage and crit effect.

Three fall before they have thrust their spears. The first, a man in all respects except for his hunched, furred back, upon which sits a second, diminutive head, has his femoral artery severed by Del (BM#1 dies). The second to fall, a man in every way save for his thick, leathery skin and head of an elephant, is ventilated by a longsword of milky steel. And then a third and a fourth when Arnie and Dave attack gallantly, well, Arnie anyhow.

But that leaves two.

Oh, sweet Del, the last cookie. A "man" with iridescent scales and a saurian head catches her flush with his spear thrust, impaling her verily with such force as to lift her off the floor and have her slide, inch by inch, down the foul thing's shaft. She dies then and there and no longing look from Arnie can free her.

Callum, having just fleshed his longsword and still recovering his stance, can't defend himself from the other. He smells the thing upon him all brine and sweat, its octopod face before him. As the eight tentacles frame his ashen countenance, the chaos cultist slips his spear between the herder's ribs and to the ground, he falls. The blood spills some, not much, but enough to attract a sow's eager lips.

Summary: Beastmen (4 dead, 2 alive) PCs (13 alive, 2 dead)

Having seen four vile beast-men felled, Finn and Nyll team up on another, while Jobb grabs a handful of glass beads and hurls them at the feet of the other.

Finn, the tax collector, while not the strongest of men proves to be quite adept with a longsword and perhaps scores a telling blow against the Beast-Man. Nyll is not so fortunate however; his pick whooshes harmlessly through the air. Being one-upped by a tax collector has to be a blow to one's ego.

And Jobb, poor Jobb. While he may have some skill blowing glass, none of that transferred over to hurling glass beads as make-shift caltrops. Hopefully none of his companions would slip and lose their balance on account of his errant throw.

OOC: Finn and Nyll attacked #5. Jobb threw marbles at the feet of #6. Finn may have hit (17) for 6-1=5 points of damage.

16:27, Today: Udly rolled 6 using 1d8 with rolls of 6. longsword dmg vs BM.

16:27, Today: Udly rolled 16,2,7 using d20-1,d20-1,d20+1 with rolls of 17,3,6. finn, jobb, neil atks vs BM.

This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Thu 11 July 2013.

As Dourdoff watches his fellow kinsman dwarf fall lifeless to the ground he yells out "Save me a wench and a keg o' ale from the halls Callum!'
He then takes a mighty swing with his mace at the horrid creature that just slayed his friend and kinsman...

Bill again joins his short dwarf friend with a slash of his dagger at the same creature, trying to land a good slice to fell the beast..



Bill and Dourdoff both attack the BM that killed Callum

1:51, Today: Dourdoff rolled 9 using 1d20. Bill Dagger Attack Roll.
21:50, Today: Dourdoff rolled 11 using 1d20+1. Dourdoff Mace Attack Roll.

Finn's impressive slash leaves only one Beastman standing.  Milton, with a saturnine melancholy, raises his crowbar and brings it down hard on the monster's head.

While the creature totters, Virgil leaps in and clobbers it once more with his flail for good measure.

Dante nocks an arrow with elfin fluidity and scans the battlefield for more foes.

Milton attack with crowbar: d20=18 hit, d6=6 dmg
Virgil attack with flail: d20+1=20 hit, d6+1=3 dmg
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Thu 11 July 2013.

Nooo! Arnie screams.  She was the first woman to acknowledge my existence without complaining!  Enraged, he tries to throw himself at the beastman that killed Del, but is quickly crowded out.  His need for vengeance is not sated so easily, and he looks for any spot he can squeeze in to attack either of the monsters.  Even if the body he attacks doesn't seem to be alive anymore (it won't hurt him to make sure, after all).

Josh rolled 19 using 1d20. Arnie attacks whoever is left.
  Josh rolled 3 using 1d4. damage.

Sidd kneels down beside the bloody body of Del, sharing Arnie's grief. ''Why? Why did you charge in here so heedless? Oh oh oh.''

Zar approaches with slow steps, also mourning the mutual friend. ''I think,'' he says with the insight which comes with watching parsnips grow across the seasons, ''I think what she saw inside the tower, the beastmen, the human skins, it might have led her to believe... that she was changing. That the magics of the well were turning her into one of those. I think she sought death.'' He sighs, shaking his head unhappily.

''Gosh! You saying that these bestial men were guys from the village once? Surely not!'' Sidd looks around the opened bellies, hacked off limbs, and streams of blood. No, he would rather believe not.

Is that even possible? Arnie asks, suddenly wary of anyone in the group who might have more facial hair now than when they first met up.

Dourdoff is stricken with grief deep down for his fallen dwarf friend. However he sheds no tear for Callum, as he knows he has went on to the halls with all the others who have left before them. To better things and times. Many a tankard of ale and wenches abundant. Callum's sow squeals at her former masters body but even the pig senses the dwarf is no longer there. "An now n what is to be done with the slab o' meat there walking and squealing on four legs?" he says more to himself than anyone in particular.

Meanwhile,Bill leans over and picks up the newly found longsword that the deceased dwarf had just recovered from the hole outside this tower and he wonders if the blade may be cursed. Nevertheless, Bill knows how handy such a fine instrument of death can be with either the sharp end, or for a fair price at the market, should he make it to one again..


With that Bill asks the group "What do you want to do with our departed? We could bury them outside in the courtyard and raise a cairn in their honor if you want to?"

"Aye. A stone cairn would befit these men." The dwarf looks about for the man who possessed the shovel. "I will break the ground with my pick. A good shovel would help. The rest: gather stones."

Nyll searches the courtyard for a suitable burial spot. If none are found, he will increase the search radius to include areas outside the ruins.

In reply to Udly (msg # 111):

Dourdoff replies "I will also use me mining pick for the diggin .. The noble ones deserve all the best as they leave this life here."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Fri 12 July 2013.

The eight smoking corpses do not improve the atmospheric conditions in the Tower of the Beast. Regardless, people start talking earnestly about funereal practices and testing the weight of liberated weapons. Dante drifts towards the steps. He wouldn't even be able to say precisely why; he's just always thinking about ascending or descending, rising and falling. As he lifts his right leg to gain the first tier, an enormous beastman champion, a seven-foot monstrosity with the head of a feral bull, meets and cleaves him in twain (Dante dies).

The beastman champion wears a large silver torc hung with bleached skulls with room for more.

Combat Summary: 1 Beastman Champion (AC 12); 13 pc's. PC's are up.

Nyll wipes a bead of sweat from his brow just as the beastman champion appears and summarily cuts down Dante. Calling over to Finn, "Come, before others suffer the same fate!"

At that moment, Finn wonders, 'And why exactly must it be us that jumps first to the fray?'

Reluctantly, he joins the dwarf in battle. Finn's lack of enthusiasm is apparent, judging solely by the half-assed swing of his sword at the beast-man.

Nyll fares much better and pelts the creature with his miner's pick. The dwarf needed to get his hands on a better weapon--and soon!

Jobb had been busy searching for his lost beads and makes no effort to enter melee. Surely others would step up...

OOC: Nyll hits for 4 points of damage.

17:38, Thu 11 July 2013: Udly rolled 3,7,12,4 using d20-1,d8-1,d20+1,d4+1 ((4,8,11,3)).

"NO!!"  "DANTE!"

The poet of love's two friends watch in horror as Dante is cut down.  The luckless elf has one final word on his lips: "Beatrice,"

Virgil and Milton charge.  The passion in Virgil's breast and the tears in his eyes make anything tactical or practiced simply impossible.  The flail does nothing but chip the stone doorway.  Milton, though, is full of surprises.  He fetches the seven foot monstrosity a telling wallop with the curved end of his crowbar.  The forked claw at the end of the curve bites deep into flesh, and Milton tears some away with a savage pull.

Virgil misses.  Milton hits (d20=19) for d6=6 dmg