The Closed Eye (DM: Halford, Judge: garyh)

[Dunamin]

Woe gives the bugbear a long look of grave disappointment, then sighs.

“There goes our spineless star suspect.”

He crouches down by the corpses and wipes blood off his spear in some of their clothes, then begins searching them thoroughly and collecting everything worthwhile in a pile – monetary or information-wise. Anything with unusual markings or design, including the peculiar wavy bladed dagger and one of the hide armors marked with an open eye, he sets aside for the group to study more carefully before they are to be sold off.

Woe draws his dagger and carefully carves out an eye from both of the bugbear corpses – corresponding to the same side as the one missing from the warforged.

“A little message to our new best friends in “the Clan”. A shame I couldn’t do this to them while they were alive, though.”

“Ah well,” Woe looks down at the would-be assassins. “Guess I’ll live.”

[sblock=Loot]What did the bugbears have?[/sblock]

 

[Halford]

Searching the creatures, what were they again, Bugbears? Maybe? You uncover three magical items, each creature wore an enchanted fang of some kind on a thong around their beefy necks and one possessed a red velvet bag with an embroided symbol of the open eye.

When you open the bag a young female halfling tumbles out and lies unmoving upon the polished wooden floorboards, though the bag itself appears far too small to have accomodated such a burden.

[sblock=Items]
Assuming you rest there for 15 minutes you can identify all of the items...

Bag of Holding PHB 253
Amulet of Health +1 PHB 249
Amulet of Protection +1 PHB 249[/sblock]

 

[Dunamin]

“Well look at that, these seem like protective amulets like some of my merc chums wear… and a light bag with loads and loads of room inside for storage! ... Whoa, they come with halfling girls as well!”

Woe checks to see if she has a pulse, but leaves her for now in the more capable healing hands of Tander. While the gang takes a breather and examines the magic equipment, he heads into the kitchen to check up on Adie and extract all the information he can about what’s going on.

“No worries, damsel, the coast’s all clear. Bloody, but clear. Not that you seem to have a problem with that… or pretty much anything.”

Trying to muster a tone of sympathy in his voice – as un-fake as he can stomach – Woe grabs her by the shoulders and locks her attention.

“Now I need you to focus, Adie, much as it might be a problem for you. Could you see those two goons clearly? Can you now? They were bugbears, big hairy goblins - have you seen those around Arnest or the elf before? What about the halfling? And this is very important: Have you seen this eye symbol anywhere else?”

The warrior gives her time to think things through and reply, then he finds a quill and piece of parchment to put down in front of her.

“I need you to do me a favor, Adie. Write down the name of the elf girl who lives here. With big clear letters.”

[sblock=Dividing the spoils]I wouldn’t mind settling for the lowest level piece – the level 1 Amulet of Protection. The minor boost in non-AC defenses would be handy when I take the heat as defender.[/sblock]

 

[Halford]

Woe cannot find any signs of life in the halfling and heads into the kitchen. However, Tander is able to discern the faintest flickers of a pulse in the girl, and that she was has been without air for some time - she likely only survived because she had been knocked unconcious previously...

“Now I need you to focus, Adie, much as it might be a problem for you. Could you see those two goons clearly? Can you now? They were bugbears, big hairy goblins - have you seen those around Arnest or the elf before? What about this halfling? And this is very important: Have you seen this eye symbol anywhere else?”

Adie frowns,

"I can't write, Mrs Dodridge tried to teach me, but she said I was "too simple poor girl."" The last part of her speech is a fairly accurate impression of the house keeper.

"Yes I saw the big hairy man bear pigs. And the eyes, they all wear them Miss @#%%^$$ and Master *&#%)((% and all the others, but Master $^$@^*$%#^ said I was not to say anything. I made a promise. Breaking a promise is wrong." She looks up at Tander with big eyes, and what might almost be a rather snide smile...

 

[KenHood]

The Bugbear...raises its middle finger at the group...

"That's just inappropriate. Profanity cheapens the spirit and weakens the mind."

Anything with unusual markings or design, including the peculiar wavy bladed dagger and one of the hide armors marked with an open eye, he sets aside for the group to study more carefully before they are to be sold off.

[OOC: Halford - What kind of rolls do you need from us?]​

Woe draws his dagger and carefully carves out an eye from both of the bugbear corpses – corresponding to the same side as the one missing from the warforged.

“A little message to our new best friends in “the Clan”. A shame I couldn’t do this to them while they were alive, though.”

"Hey! I was going to do that...and other things. You going to keep those eyeballs?"

Searching the creatures, what were they again, Bugbears? Maybe?

[OOC: Is this because the weird magical veil is affecting them again?]​

When you open the bag a young female halfling tumbles out and lies unmoving upon the polished wooden floorboards, though the bag itself appears far too small to have accomodated such a burden.

"I claim the halfling as part of my loot!"

“Well look at that, these seem like protective amulets like some of my merc chums wear… and a light bag with loads and loads of room inside for storage! ... Whoa, they come with halfling girls as well!”

"Yep! It certainly has a great deal of storage space!" says Palindrome gleefully, already stuffing the vases, armor, morningstars, and anything else of reasonable value into the bag.

[sblock=LOOT!]Can you guess what I want as my part of the spoils? Dude! I *LOVE* bags of holding![/sblock]

"Yes I saw the big hairy man bear pigs. And the eyes, they all wear them Miss @#%%^$$ and Master *&#%)((% and all the others, but Master $^$@^*$%#^ said I was not to say anything. I made a promise. Breaking a promise is wrong." She looks up at Tander with big eyes, and what might almost be a rather snide smile...

Palindrome enters the kitchen with two extremely fresh steaks--that he had apparently 'found' somewhere in the living room.

"No, Adie, breaking a promise is not wrong," says Palindrome, "except to us, because we care about you and want what is only best for you..."

[OOC: Diplomacy Check (1d20+7=18)]​

"And if you betray us, we will..."

[Intimidation Check. (1d20+2=7) *SIGH*​

"Uh...do...er...things."

Palindrome smiles with what might almost be a rather snide smile.

"Where did they put the pepper?"

He seasons the steaks, sears them in a pan (to keep in the juices), and flips them onto the grill.

While the meat rests, he pulls out the Screamer. He casts Prestidigitation on the paper, creating the sign of the closed eye on the magical area. Then, he creates the sign of the open eye worn by the bugbears.

He sits at the table, cuts into the rare slab of meat of dubious origin, and takes a huge bite. "MMM-MMMM!" he says, rolling his eyes in pleasure, "Just like mom used to make!"

"Oh, forgive my bad manners? Anybody else want some?"

[sblock=Out of Character Stuff]So...

This is the apartment of a moderately wealthy person. There has got to be some jewelry, knick-knacks, art objects, etc. and so forth. Not to mention journals, notes, or other incriminating evidence. Is there anything else of use or value in the apartment? Is there any skill challenge we can perform to tear apart the place?

Do we have enough XP to go to level 2 yet?

Does the other bugbear have a wavy dagger, too? If you guys don't mind, Palindrome will keep 'em.

Is it possible to sew the bag of holding into Palindrome's vest?

And...

Can we save the bodies of the bugbears for later use as zombies? Assuming Palindrome achieves sufficient level to use that ritual?[/sblock]

 

[Dunamin]

"Hey! I was going to do that...and other things. You going to keep those eyeballs?"

Woe shrugs and hands Palindrome an eyeball. “At least until I can throw one at the feet of whoever sent these losers. Here, have one of them.”

"I claim the halfling as part of my loot!"

“You already want Adie as familiar, P, that would seriously cut into your share of the spoils. Stick to your steaks and let Tander take care of her.”

"Yes I saw the big hairy man bear pigs. And the eyes, they all wear them Miss @#%%^$$ and Master *&#%)((% and all the others, but Master $^$@^*$%#^ said I was not to say anything. I made a promise. Breaking a promise is wrong." She looks up at Tander with big eyes, and what might almost be a rather snide smile...

"No, Adie, breaking a promise is not wrong," says Palindrome, "except to us, because we care about you and want what is only best for you..."

[OOC: Diplomacy Check (1d20+7=18)]​

“You need to come clean with us, honey,” Woe continues. I see you deeply care about Miss Dodridge, and she would cry if Arnest died because you didn’t help us help him. We don’t want a nice lady like Miss Dodridge crying again, do we?”

“Tell us about these people wearing eye symbols. Who are they, what do they look like, what’s their story?”

 

[nerdytenor]

Tander regards the suicide of the remaining bugbear^H^H^H^H^H^H^thing with about as much interest as he would show towards a passing cloud.

"I thought that when I was... That when I woke up my mind...". For the first time since this crazy adventure started, Tander appears genuinely upset. "No matter, no matter."

At the appearance of the halfling, Tander immediately returns to his former self. "Yes - there is life in this one. If it is alright with you," he says, addressing Palindrome, "I'd like to try and heal your 'spoil'." With this, Tander places both hands around the halfling's undersized head and shuts his eyes.

OOC: Healing word.

With this done, he turns to Addie.

"Breaking a promise may be wrong, Addie, but covering up something sufficiently dastardly is worse. Addie, your masters may be in a fair bit of trouble and not even realize it. We may be able to help them. Tell us what you can, dear - please"

OOC: Diplomacy 19 (or 20 with time bonus)
[sblock=Lewt!]
I'm happy with either amulet. So looks like that's settled (Tander gets the health amulet, Woe the other one, P. gets the baggie).
[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

Woe shrugs and hands Palindrome an eyeball. “At least until I can throw one at the feet of whoever sent these losers. Here, have one of them.”

"Thanks!" Palindrome says with not a little cheer.

With a flip of the wrist, the Forged eyeball appears in Palindrome's hand. "Hello, little metal-man eyeball! Meet your new friend, little bungbear eyeball."

[OOC: Palindrome casts Ghost Sound.]​

The two eyeballs begin chattering nonsense to one another in high-pitched voices.

“You already want Adie as familiar, P, that would seriously cut into your share of the spoils. Stick to your steaks and let Tander take care of her.”

The bugbear eyeball says, "I don't know, Woe. I was a little dissappointed in Adie's perf..."

Palindrome coughs. "Ahem."

"I don't know, Woe. I was a little dissappointed in Adie's performance in combat. I expect mindless obedience and suicidal loyalty from my familiars...which might have something to do with the fact that I go through them so quickly."

“Tell us about these people wearing eye symbols. Who are they, what do they look like, what’s their story?”

"And more importantly, can you lead us to them?"

Palindrome taps his fingers on the table. "Ah-hah! Adie, instead of telling us the whole names of the master(s) and mistress, why don't you tell us the first sound in the name, then the second, and so on? For instance, what is the first sound in the name of the lady that lived in this apartment?"

 

[KenHood]

"Just a thought: What if these Open Eye guys are the bad guys, and the Closed Eye guys are the good guys? And what if Adie works for the Closed Eye guys and is trying to play us against the Open Eye guys?"

"And from where in Hades' did all that blood in the other room come?!"

"That's it. I'm walking into the bedroom to satisfy my curiousity. Maybe the exsanguinated corpse is in there."

And he does just that.

---

[sblock=What if...?]We take a boulder that weighed about 200 lbs. and stuck in the Bag of Holding. In the middle of a fight, Palindrome casts Mage Hand. The hand carries the bag over an enemy and dumps the contents of the bag onto the enemy's head.

How much damage would it inflict? What would be the attack roll?[/sblock]

 

[Halford]

OOC: Hmm, a few matters for me to consider, I will get back to you tomorrow...

[sblock=*Sigh*]

We take a boulder that weighed about 200 lbs. and stuck in the Bag of Holding. In the middle of a fight, Palindrome casts Mage Hand. The hand carries the bag over an enemy and dumps the contents of the bag onto the enemy's head.

How much damage would it inflict? What would be the attack roll?

Umm, something undesirable? I also think we must assume that the bag opening is only just big enough to insert a halfling with considerable effort.

Like the shrink item, and infact infamous portable hole full of shrink itemed boulders which my party attempted to drop on baddies in 3.5, or the old get swollowed whole dimension door out after dropping a Quall's Feather Token tree inside a dragon, the tarrasque, and memorably a gnome. These things have all been done and redone in dnd so much that I have even ceased to allow them to work once for ingenuity - which I used to do.

My personal favorite was when I readied an action to polymorph any object our druid's animal companion into green slime - he was at 1 hp and we had no way to save him - into green slime as a great wyrm black dragon swallowed him.

In short for me to reward ingenuity it would have to be something I had not seen a dozen times before and either hilarious or awesome. I have no doubt that this group will at some point be able to pull off such a feat.

[/sblock]