In reply to Smol spoder (msg # 23):

"Come on. If you are with me I can look after you. If you stay here, there is just death..."

"I wonder if spiders are cannibals?"  Mario's arrows, of course, have vanished one minute after they were drawn from the quiver.  He steps to one of the still spiders, grabs a leg (keeping well clear of the mouth area), and drags it toward Clarence.

"Some are.  No kennin on this type.  Come on Clarence, let's go.  If won't follow ya, get some Druid intercede with t'em or scroll Speak With Animals, an come back later."

"And, don't forget that the cloud blocking the rest of them from us only lasts a few minutes, deadly as it is.  Stay too long, and we'll have the rest of them here, and Jareth likely too tired to do it again."

Mario offers the leg he was using to drag the dead spider.  "Bring this if you want."

In reply to Clarence Montague (msg # 24):

The spider hesitantly advances, its eyes on Mario's bow.

Mario cocks his head, holds the bow to show its curve.  "This isn't what you have to worry about, it's the arrows that kill."  He flicks the nock of his one ordinary arrow, then, much more slowly than usual, readies an arrow, nocks, draws, and releases into the yellow cloud blocking the corridor.  He flicks the nock of the single arrow again.

"Let's go, Clarence.  It'll follow if it wants to."

Mario turns and follows the others slowly, keeping a watch behind, just in case.

In reply to Mario Crowfoot (msg # 29):

You make your way up the stairs,the spider following at a distance.

The Yr-go is starting to flutter a bit.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 30):

"Come on little one, she wont hurt you while you are close to me, and you don't eat her doggy..."

"And I won't harm you unless you look like you're about to harm one of us."

Mario shakes his head vigorously.  "And now, I'm talking to a spider."

He resumes climbing the stairs, continuing to watch behind for Clarence and his new pet.

Once he gets back to a safe area, Nodwin leans against a wall to rest, his energy nearly gone.

"Whew, I need to study that spell more, I'm haven't practiced it enough."

Presuming we've moved up past the metal door, Jareth fiddles with the lock a moment and then waves Mario over to it.





OOC: Still don't know if Jareth has keys or not... but his lockpicking attempt failed.

02:36, Today: Jareth Mooncalled rolled 16 using 3d6.  Lockpicking 12.

"Need some help with that?"  Mario steps up beside Jareth, slings his bow, and pulls some tiny tools out of his pouch.  "I'm not the best there is at this, may take a moment."

He probes in the lock for a moment.  "Ah, there it is."  His elbow swings wide as he pushes the locking bar home.  "Keys are quicker, but..."

[Private to GM: 05:15, Today: Mario Crowfoot rolled 8 using 3d6.  Lockpicking (11).]

In reply to Mario Crowfoot (msg # 35):

The lock snaps shut, leaving the other spiders below. Dim twilight and the glowing runes from the bone gate lend a weird illumination to the room, some of which reflects from the eyes of the small spider.

"Can rest bit here, less something come through t'e bone gate."

He turns to the Ymid, "What were ya looking for down t'ere?"

In reply to Narrator (msg # 36):

Clarence looks around for something small to feed his friend. He glances at crotchsniffer, but then looks away for something else.

"Probably best not to eat the doggy..." he mumbles.

"Much safer not to eat the doggy."  He glances at Mellarill.  "I think there were still some bodies down here from the Saturnines."

In reply to Mario Crowfoot (msg # 39):

Clarence will look to see where there might be bodies...

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 37):

"There was an anomaly I sensed from that direction. What did (disturbing distorted image of Mario doing something to locked door) this ritual mean? Two of you performed it. Is it religious (twisted suggestion of manlike apes touching a black monolith) in nature? (Vertigo inducing visualization  of Ymid hand gesturing with glowing runes hanging in the air as the metal of the door ripples away from the locking mechanism, and then flows back into place once the door closes) This is proper practice."


[Private to Jocelyn Lemru: make a Thaumatology roll]

"We were locking t'e door... hmmm.  Let's see if I can explain...."

He pictures the inner workings and manipulation of the locking mechanism as clearly as possible then says in Dark One, "'Ai-k'yarnak se kn'a'ee mirre hen nafl-ch'nglui se r'luh hen kadishtu zirȳ hae shapit hae kostas."



[Private to GM: Jareth is being awfully meta with this sentence, but that's the Player having fun.  The character is describing the inner workings of a lock, but the sentence is literally:  "Describes (speak-exchange) the mechanisms (question-answers) of the locks (not-cross-threshold) and secret of understanding them as briefly as he can."]

I'm getting confused... what is the issue?




[Private to GM: 12:53, Today: Jocelyn Lemru rolled 9 using 3d6.  Thaumatology. Made by 5]

In reply to Jocelyn Lemru (msg # 43):

Jocelyn may need to drop points in prerequisites,but she just learned Shape Metal if she putas a point in it.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 44):

She'd put the point in it, but would need to borrow against the future points she may get. Right now I show her as have no unspent points.

"Some folks might consider locking a door a religious ritual.  I met this banker once who actually had a priest come in and bless his locks -- and then hired a couple of us as guards on top."

Mario blinks a couple times.

"Generally, though, and for most people, locking or unlocking a door is a lot easier than using whatever magic that was to bypass the lock."

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 42):

(image of grossly anatomical appendage probing earlike aperature to align bony protruberances, causing hinged jaw like mechanism to pop open?)

Mario shakes his head sharply, blinks a couple more times, then reaches into his pouch and pulls out his tools.  A couple small bent bronze prybars of different sizes, a pair of probes that resemble thin chopsticks, and a very thin, almost blade-like piece with a leather wrapped handle.

"These," wiggling the chopsticks, "are for feeling the wards and bar.  These," pointing at the prybars, "are for slipping past the wards, lifting the tumbler, and pushing the bar.  This," laying the jimmy over his arm to show the cutout that lets a forearm act as a fulcrum, "is for pushing up a simple bar on the wrong side of the door.

"Given a little time to work, I can open -- or close -- any basic lock in town.  Like I said, I'm not the best there is; a locksmith apprentice would carry three times this many tools and be expected to be able to open any lock short of masterwork before he's a journeyman."