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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jsb420" data-source="post: 5745613" data-attributes="member: 6672544">Quan reaches out and touches the door handle for the first time. As he does, he just barely feels a slight sting, like static electricity discharge. Grasping the handle fully, he opens the door, revealing only darkness beyond; an empty void.     Suddenly, from the door frame, eldritch runes flare to life, crackling with electricity. Brilliant bolts of lightning arc across the doorway, creating an intricate pattern, almost like a spider’s web. Before anyone can react, a bolt of lightning flares out and strikes the elven monk. Next it arcs to Braddock standing nearby, then it arcs again and again catching Muzdum and Orsik, until finally connecting with the feline-druid just as she was about to leap out of the way. Within a heartbeat, all the heroes are immobilized by the lightning.   [gm]Each of you take 5 lightning damage.[/gm]  Unable to move, the heroes feel themselves being dragged towards the door – even Braddock and Muzdum, as dwarves have been known to be able to stand their ground. Quan is pulled across the threshold and vanishes, followed swiftly by the others.      Time and space is distorted as you feel your physical bodies, stretched, contracted, pushed, pulled and contorted. The next moment your find yourselves in a large cavern, but lit as if in noon day sunlight. Half blinded, eyes tearing, you peer through squinted eyes, twirling back towards the door…and watch it close, become transparent, then disappear entirely with an audible POP!. As your vision clears, you take stock of your environment, noticing giant mushrooms, each as tall as massive oaks towering around you. You are in a mushroom forest, and strangely, the faint smell of tobacco can be detected.      Ahead of you, amidst a cloud of smoky haze, an enormous shape can be seen, resting atop a giant mushroom. Smoke curls up into the sky, its tendrils dissipating in the air, apparently the source of the tobacco smell. A great booming voice rings out, dispelling the silence. ”My, my….what have we here? Visitors? Most curious indeed?”      The smoky haze parts to reveal a gigantic lizard-like creature, its multiple pairs of legs supporting its massive blue scaled body. The upper half of the creature is upright and clutched in its claws is a hose, attached to a vaguely familiar smoking device. The creature takes a puff – the tobacco in the bowl glows a deep red color, sparks cascading out – and then blows out the smoke, electricity crackling briefly in the smoke cloud. ”Hmmm. To make it this far, you must be not only brave, but highly skilled. I see two dwarves; I do find dwarf meat to be tough, like chewing rocks. A couple of elves; elf flesh is too stringy, and here now, a goliath? It has been a while since I’ve dined on tall men flesh.”     Taking another draw on the hookah, the creature shifts its bulk and while exhaling, continues, ”Where are my manners? My name is Verhig. Please, tell me your stories, for surely you have piqued my Curiosity. Then, I’ll decide if I should eat you or not.”  [sblock=Picture] <a href="http://imgur.com/q3Pju" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/q3Pju.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>[/sblock]  [gm]You are now entering a skill challenge.[/gm]  [sblock=Skill Challenge] *GOAL: You are trying to convince Verhig as to why he shouldn’t eat you.     *Complexity: 3 (8 successes before 3 failures)  Status: Successes: 0  Failures: 0     *DC: All DCs are listed below. All DCs for skills not listed are considered hard (DC 25).     *Skills: You can use a skill not listed below, only if you can explain it reasonably. Any explanation I feel doesn’t correspond with the given skill, I will impose a -2 penalty to it.     * Rules: The same rules apply for skill challenges as apply for encounters (48-hour rule, etc).     *Repeating the Same Skills: Any character repeating the same skill check in two successive rounds will impose a -2 cumulative penalty to the triggering roll (i.e. -2 for second check, -4 for third check, etc.)     *Critical Success: A natural 20 counts as 2 successes OR 1 success and remove 1 failure.     *Critical Failure: A Natural 1 automatically counts as 1 Failure, regardless of any modifiers.     *Aid Another: You can roll to aid another PC. Using the compendium rules, a roll of 10+1/2 the rolling PC’s level or higher grants a +2 to that player’s skill check, while a failure grants a -1 penalty to that player’s skill check. A successful aid another roll does not count towards the total number of successes.  [sblock=*Primary Skills][sblock=Bluff (DC 25)]You try to use beguiling words in order to convince the Behir to spare you and your allies. A success counts towards the Skill Challenge.[/sblock]  [sblock=Diplomacy (DC 19)]Choosing courtly manners and kind words, you try to convince the creature of your loyalty and integrity. A success counts towards the Skill Challenge.[/sblock]  [sblock=History (DC 19)]You search your memory of any texts you’ve read in order to help your current situation. A success counts towards the Skill Challenge.[/sblock]  [sblock=Intimidate (DC 25)]You quietly proclaim swift vengeance against any who threaten you or your allies. A success counts towards the Skill Challenge. Failure imposes a -5 penalty to the next skill roll the failing PC makes.  *NOTE: This skill can only be used once during this skill challenge by ANY PC.[/sblock][/sblock]  [sblock=*Secondary Skills][sblock=Arcana (DC 25)]You weave magic into your words, enhancing them, hoping to gain advantage over Verhig. A success does not count towards the Skill Challenge. Instead you gain a +2 bonus to the next primary skill check.[/sblock]  [sblock=Insight (DC 19)]You try to read into the behir’s words and body language, hoping that any foreknowledge can could prevent it from attacking. A success does not count towards the Skill Challenge. Instead you gain a +2 bonus to the next primary skill check.[/sblock]  [sblock=Nature (DC 25)]You are attuned to nature, but this creature is unlike anything in your experience. You draw upon your knowledge of the world and the creatures that reside on it in order to try to gain some advantage you can use to convince Verhig not to devour you. A success does not count towards the Skill Challenge. Instead you gain a +2 bonus to the next primary skill check.[/sblock][sblock=Perception (DC 19)]Wary of an attack, you look for any clues as the actions of Verhig. A success does not count towards the Skill Challenge. Instead you gain a +2 bonus to the next primary skill check.[/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][sblock=Mushroom Forest]Map #3 Mushroom Forest:  <a href="http://imgur.com/u9Nz1" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/u9Nz1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>     Illumination: Bright (magical light)Dotted Yellow Line: Outline of doorway (reference only)Mushrooms: each tree depicted on the map are actually tall mushrooms; 15-feet to 25-feet tall; considered difficult terrain and can provide cover; Athletics check (DC 19) to climb.[/sblock] [sblock=Stats]  Braddock (M10): 42/57 hp; HS 11/11; AP 1+1; Dwarven Resilience; Status:   Quan (L12): 37/42 hp; HS 6/7; AP 1<s>+1</s>; Second Wind; Elven Accuracy; Status:   Orsik (J12): 48/53 hp; HS 10/10; AP 1; Second Wind; Stone’s Endurance; Rune of Mending  [1], [2]; Status:   Muzdum (O11): 44/62; HS 12/12; AP 1; Dwarven Resilience; Status:   Rikka (J10): 55/60 hp; HS 8/8; <s>AP 1</s>; Second Wind; Elven Accuracy; Status:[/sblock]  [gm]Braddock: 5 lightning damage   Quan: 5 lightning damage  Orsik: 5 lightning damage  Rikka: 5 lightning damage  Muzdum: 5 lightning damage  [/gm]</blockquote>

Verification