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EN World - Morrus' D&D / d20 News & Reviews Site - Homebrew - Night's Embrace--Part I: A Touch of Darkness
Homebrew - Night's Embrace--Part I: A Touch of Darkness
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*Everyone seems fine, so Kel heads down to the common room, which is in a bit of disarray without Zaltan. Thankfully, Karden is trying to do some of the administrative tasks, but his cold-eyed glare towards staff and customer alike is not as good for business as the obsequious grin that Zaltan presents in public.*
__________________
"That's so far over the line between genius and madness, it passed all the way through Cthulhuville and normalcy and all the way back to brilliance!"--MoogleEmpMog
Kelloran is the model tapboy, moving swiftly and expertly through the crowded tavern, taking orders and delivering drinks with alacrity. When he judges some 10 minutes have passed, he goes upstairs again, and relieves Mara.
__________________
Impress the locals? Uh - give me a moment!
"Kel, are you sure that no one is going to notice if we keep popping in and out one after the other all night long?...Well, I guess maybe not. They do seem busy with the crowds, at least for now."
"Mara, I don't know what else to do. We can't disappear for an hour at a time - then we really would be missed."
"I guess the one we really need to keep an eye on is Dethar - at least until Zaltan gets back."
"Why don't you go back down now, and I'll follow in a few minutes. Then we have to keep our eyes open. I'll come up when I can to check on them - and you do the same. OK?"
"Okay, I think that sounds good. Besides, you're right that no one probably knows except Dethar, and he'll be working hard to keep up with the customers at this hour, especially with the added trouble of the disorder. I'll head back down now."
Kelloran checks once again on the party. Not knowing anything about first aid, so long as everybody's still breathing and not in obvious distress, he closes the door quietly and moves back into the shadows to watch for a few minutes. As he does, he thinks, "Why is Zaltan so late back tonight? I wonder what's going on."
After a while Kelloran heads downstairs. He'll pop back up when he can but will concentrate his energies on keeping an eye on Dethar and watching out for Zaltan's return. Whenever he can manage it, he exchanges a smile and a few words with Mara.
*Kel continues that way for a while. Eventually, Dethar does slip out, but he doesn't go to rob the rooms--then again, he doesn't know which rooms. Zaltan, however, still does not return.*
RA, does Dethar normally slip away when it's so busy? Is it unusual - I think you said it was - for Zaltan to be away like this? Finally, is there any chance that Kel would be quick enough to follow Dethar?
(OOC: Dethar waited until it wasn't so busy, much later on. It is unusual for Zaltan to be away, yes. Kel could try to shadow Dethar if he wishes, but it doesn't look overly suspicious)
*This continues through the night, thankfully without anything happening to the adventurers, though there is a barroom brawl. Zaltan still has not shown up.*
"The fat bastard must have passed out at a brothel or something," Mara suggests.
*This continues through the night, thankfully without anything happening to the adventurers, though there is a barroom brawl. Zaltan still has not shown up.*
"The fat bastard must have passed out at a brothel or something," Mara suggests.
"Maybe, Mara. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid. But it seems strange that he would choose this night to disappear, right after these adventurers were attacked and that woman abducted - outside this inn."
Kelloran pauses, wide eyes narrowing for a moment to calculating slits, then he shakes his head. "Nah, you're right. He's just out to it somewhere."
Rystil Arden
RA, is there enough gold in the stash Kel lifted from the others to cover the cost of the second lot of healing?
Actually, RA, adding up the funds carried from the Rogues Gallery entries, we come up short. Even if Kel adds in his own money - "Ouch, that hurts! - we only have 76 gp, 15sp and 5cp in party funds. Having already spent 40 gp, we're 2 gp, 5 sp & 5cp short of the money needed to pay the cleric for a second visit.
Kel's going to have milk a few marks overnight - just enough to make up the shortfall (he doesn't want to take any unneccessary risks). That barroom brawl would be the obvious time to lift a purse or two from some of the more inebriated patrons. He's got a +7 on Sleight of Hand.
Okey dokey--just to note, to get that much gold, he basically lifted silvers from each patron as he passed by, since people in the Armpit bar usually aren't exactly rich, so he has the money in coppers and silvers.
Damn & blast, RA! I forgot about the 2 gp, 7 sp which Dethar extorted from Kelloran. That means that his total holdings are 77.55 less 2.70 plus 6.00 = 80.8. This enough to pay the cleric for 2 visits but not enough to pay for the night's accomodation for the party!
I guess Kel's just going to have to go out and lift some more coins (assuming that he's actually milked the tavern patrons for all he can.) Well, I think I'll wait for the cleric to arrive and then try and top up the funds before Zaltan gets back. Of course, if there was any way Kel could rip off Dethar he'd be more than happy to do it!
*Kel waits for the cleric to arrive and pays with the last of the gold.*
"May the Mighty One smile upon you, little mate," the priest intones, as he heads over to tend to the injured.
*Shan manages to wake up and, though still wounded severely, move about as normal. Sulannus and Titus are awake and out of their comas but still bedridden for a little while longer. Blunt is still unconscious from his wounds.*
OOC
Shan regains 6 from CLW and 1 from resting overnight for a total of 7, awakened at 1.
Titus regains 1 from CmW and 1 from resting for a total of 2, staggered but awake in bed at 0.
Sulannus regains 9 from CLW and 1 from resting, also staggered but awake in bed at 0.
Blunt regains 1 from CmW and 1 from resting, still unconscious at -2.
*Shan wakes up under the priest's hands, who moves on to the other bed before Shan has gathered himself enough to open his eyes. When he is able, Shan sits up against the wall and sees the elf wake up as well.*
"Thank you for the healing sir," he says to the priest, the thanks coming out slowly and almost as a question for his surprise at seeing a priest here. Seeing Kel standing in the doorway he asks him, "What's happened?"
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The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. - Douglas Adams
The elf woman's almond-shaped eyes flutter open a few minutes after the priest's benediction. She makes a feeble, doomed effort to sit up, and finally lies where she is, clutching her blankets and looking around.
Thickly and slowly; the words of someone struggling to remember how to say what she's saying, the elf speaks in Common. "Where am I? Who are you people?"
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Check out the Story Hour I'm in!
Kel steps forward at the paladin's words. "You were all so close to death - I spent all your money ... and all of mine ... on healing for you. This priest is a Gob of Valkur, the Captain of the Waves. He has been to visit you twice, bringing the blessing of the sea's healing spray."
"I thought it was important that you all be healed as soon as possible." He looks over his shoulder before adding, "This is not the best of places to be helpless amongst strangers."
Turning to the priest, Kelloran smiles and bows his head and says, "Thank you, sir, for your kindness."
Kel looks into the elf's eyes and says, somewhat tremulously, "Lady, you came to the aid of a woman in need. So did those who lie next door. So did I. But we couldn't save her. She's been carried off - and you're in the inn next to the alley where you fought."
"My name is Kelloran. I live and work here. You're in the Orc's Armpit - and no, it's not really the nicest place to be."
"Now, Sir Shan, I have to go. I'll come back as soon as I can. In the meantime, if you need anything, Mara will help you. She is the young woman you spoke to last night."
Kel leaves, accompanying the priest to the door of the inn. He then finds Mara, to tell her what has happened, and sets off into the town. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Rystil Arden
RA, Kel will go to try and lift the extra gold he needs to pay the rent. He's keen to get back as soon as he can, so he won't spend any longer on the streets than he needs to. (Besides, he's keen to get some sleep himself.)
*Kel tries to run, but he doesn't outpace the man following him, who yells: "Guards! Guards!" as he follows. Kel manages to flee to the alleyways and slip around a corner, hiding in the shadows instead of turning a second corner just ahead, and he holds his breath with apprehension as the man runs past. He had lost him.*
*Shan looks after Kel as he leaves, wondering how much he'd done for them.*
"You do not remember?" he asks the elf, "you were a brave ally, fighting to the end against that boar."
"There were no times for introductions then, but I am Shan Murkley, a paladin of Illmater."
OOC
Now that we have two healers awake, we'll probably want to provide some long time care as I don't think we'll move much for another day unless we're forced from the inn. And, well, I like to know the options availible, so:
Can multiple people try caring for the same people or must they 'aid another'? If they can't, how many can aid the check? Can the check be remade (taking another 8 hours) on those it fails for? Is 'light activity' light enough that Kel and/or Mara could do that in adition to their jobs at the inn?
Okay, lessee. First off, Sulannus and Titus are still staggered, so they won't be providing healing until they get 1 more hit point back. Second, Kel and Mara's jobs at the inn are in different rooms, so they wouldn't be able to perform healing while doing the jobs, although if their jobs were in the same room, they might have been able to do both--however, if they were to switch off jobs and healing together so that one was always on call for healing, they could make a check with the lower person's bonus (that last bit allowing the switch-off was a houserule on my part, as it makes sense).
Multiple people cannot try caring for the same people, they must aid another.
How much aiding to allow is the GM's call, and I usually cap it at one assistant unless there is a compelling reason in my mind to allow more. However, I do allow exceptional assistants to give a greater than +2 bonus if they are willing to try a harder check.
"I remember," the elf replies, raising her chin. "But I didn't recognize any of you. I was concentrating on the creatures at the time."
The chin stays up as she intones with the sound of much rehearsing, "I am Sulannus Phaedran, first daughter of the..." She cuts off in mid-sentence, face going blank as she looks towards the door.
"Did he say he spent all our money?!" the elf asks with mounting alarm.
Kel, exhausted after the night's happenings, and badly shaken by his recent experience, doesn't have the heart to try again. He heads back to the Armpit to get some sleep. Maybe some other opportunity will present itself before Zaltan returns.
On the way, he begins to wonder if it might be worth searching around the kitchen and the other areas Dethar frequents. It would be satisfying to fleece the cook - seeing as it was his greed that caused the shortfall in Kel's funds in the first place.
Blunt groans in the corner and slowly rouses from unconsciousness. HIs eyes flicker several times as the light pours in for the first time in many hours. Licking his parched lips, the human's head lolls to one side. "Titus?" he calls softly in the voice of someone utterly exhausted. "Titus," he calls weakly once more.
OOC: RA, I took the liberty of rousing Blunt as per my post in the OOC thread. Mind you, he is still in a bad way, and not going anywhere fast.
__________________ DM: The only thing standing between you and the fiendish owl bear in this corridor is the Rogue. Sorceror: I cast Enlarge Person. On the Rogue. To block the corridor. Rogue: What the?!?!?! Hah! I get a Fortitude saving throw..... <rolls>.... <sigh>
"Indeed he did. I'm sure he thought himself justified, but we'll have to wait for his return to hear more on that. He must have taken them before calling the cook I suppose... One of you must have had quite some money though, for I surely didn't have enough to pay for a cleric's healing even for myself. Would that have been you?"
*Shan looks at Sulannus apologetically.*
OOC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rystil Arden
First off, Sulannus and Titus are still staggered, so they won't be providing healing until they get 1 more hit point back.
Hmn, I'll explain my reasoning on this as well: staggered and disabled seem to be overlapping in what they effect but it seems disabled is supposed to be a strictly worse condition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SRD
"Healing that raises the dying character's hit points to 0 makes him conscious and disabled."
"Performing any standard action (or any other action the DM deems strenuous, including some free actions such as casting a quickened spell) [while disabled] deals 1 point of damage after the completion of the act."
"Giving long-term care counts as light activity for the healer."
I don't think 'light activity' is mentioned anywhere else in the SRD so I took it as an antonym of strenuous, but maybe 'activity' is the key word, there to point out it's not complete rest for the day.
If Kel and Mara can aid, it might actually be better if Titus didn't help though.
Oh, and I don't think you answered this; "Can the check be remade (taking another 8 hours) on those it fails for?"
If the staggered people were even allowed to heal, though, light activity precludes a full day of rest. I think they aren't, as even the most basic of healing techniques, first aid, is a standard action, and so I rule that they can't Heal without performing a standard action during that light activity. I believe staggered == disabled.
As for retries, no. You can try to heal on the 8 hours of rest (if they only get 8 hours) or try to heal on the full day's rest (if they get a full day).
I suggest a full day's rest for the most injured, which means not even light activity, as that will provide up to 4 hit points each
Kelloran returns to the Armpit, despondent after his failure to raise more funds, and increasingly depressed that he has spent all his hard-won hoard on a group of strangers. What was he thinking of? Who are these people to him? And yet, he can't stop thinking of the paladin's nobility, and the elf's courage.
He goes to find Mara, to check on what has happened while he has been out. Then, if nothing untoward has occurred, he goes quietly to search in the places where Dethar might have a stash - probably a vain hope but hey, he might be lucky.
*Dethar is clearing things up in the kitchen after breakfast. He doesn't notice Kel's peek--this time. Kel thinks it might be a good idea to avoid Dethar, since the surly cook is technically the only one who knows that Kel's friends spent the night...*