The Reconquista: Part I (Shadows over Istivin)

[Hypersmurf]

OOC: Am I interpreting this wrong, or has this been errataed?

OOC: No, reading that section, I agree completely. I just read the two skill descriptions, and was somehow thinking that the Jump negates the first ten feet of a fall, and the Tumble negates the last ten feet. But the DMG passage is pretty unambiguous - cool /OOC

The scene doesn't ring any immediate warning bells with Reivik - no call for urgent action, at any rate.

He ambles down the alley, making no attempt to conceal himself, and (unless challenged sooner) draws to a halt some twenty feet from the fracas, hammer resting negligently on his shoulder.

OOC: Just observing - and seeing if there's anything that feels 'off'. Anything about the guards that seems false, or about the man that triggers any memories... or if it feels like a simple case of the watch doing their job.

I figure the centre square of the first row inside the alley mouth is about where he'd be headed. /OOC

 

[Branding Opportunity]

OOC: Reivik, I'm not exactly sure how 'negligently' one can rest a greathammer on one's shoulder

Reivik, clad only in his nightshirt and boots casually strolls over towards the fighting men, entering the top of the alleyway. The town guards seem hesistant to want to seriously harm the screaming fellow, simply trying to subdue him with their bare hands. The man in the nightshirt is rather tall and somewhat gangly, with wild black hair, a long, sharp nose and light-blue eyes.

As the dwarf watches, one of the guards attempts to grab the wild man around the waist from behind while another attempts to grab his arms. "Leave me be, I must be free!" the man screams as his hands begin the short, yet complex motions indicative of spellcasting.

As he finishes speaking the words of power necessary to complete the spell (OOC: Which Reivik doesn't understand, as he doesn't have the Spellcraft skill) a green-black mist seems to quickly seep out of the ground, crawling like a living thing up the bodies of the guardsmen and the sides of the building until it reaches past the second story of the nearby houses.

Three of the five guardsmen are caught in the vapors, and clutch at their throats as their skin breaks out in horrific sores, oozing a yellowish-green puss. They fall to the ground, twitching violently, already dead.

The cloud spreads out until it is within 5 ft. of Reivik and continues creeping out towards him. Because of the vapors rising before him, Reivik quickly looses sight of both the doomed guardsmen and the spellcaster. He can still hear screams from beyond the cloud, but this time they are the screams of the surviving guardsmen.

OOC: Reivik gets one more round to act by himself. Next round, everyone else in the party will join him, beginning at the "door" at the top of the map for simplicity's sake. I'm not at home at the moment, so I can't update the map this minute. Suffice it to say that the entire alley, up to, but not including the square where Reivik is standing is blocked off by the noxious greenish-black vapor.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Three of the five guardsmen are caught in the vapors, and clutch at their throats as their skin breaks out in horrific sores, oozing a yellowish-green puss. They fall to the ground, twitching violently, already dead.

OOC: I take it the three were those closest to me, and the caster wasn't in the area of the spell... so the last I could see, the spaces the caster and the other two guards were in were unaffected? Do the screams of the survivors sound like fear ("Oh my god, he killed Kenny!") or pain ("I'm meee-elting!")?

 

[Branding Opportunity]

OOC: I take it the three were those closest to me, and the caster wasn't in the area of the spell... so the last I could see, the spaces the caster and the other two guards were in were unaffected? Do the screams of the survivors sound like fear ("Oh my god, he killed Kenny!") or pain ("I'm meee-elting!")?

OOC: Correct, the three closest to you were affected. The other screams were the former kind.

I also added the map to my previous post.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Three of the five guardsmen are caught in the vapors, and clutch at their throats as their skin breaks out in horrific sores, oozing a yellowish-green puss. They fall to the ground, twitching violently, already dead.

The cloud spreads out until it is within 5 ft. of Reivik and continues creeping out towards him. Because of the vapors rising before him, Reivik quickly looses sight of both the doomed guardsmen and the spellcaster. He can still hear screams from beyond the cloud, but this time they are the screams of the surviving guardsmen.

"Oh, bugger," Reivik curses mildly, backing up a little. (5 ft NE)

He takes a deep breath, screws his eyes mostly shut, and takes a running leap, staying as close to the wall as possible... hoping to pass through the cloud before his skin can break out in horrific sores, oozing a yellowish-green puss, and before he falls to the ground, twitching violently, already dead.

OOC: In theory, if he makes it to the other side of the cloud alive, he'll have moved 40 feet - one move action. Can I give you my standard action once I know what the result is?

 

[Branding Opportunity]

Reivik bursts out of the other side of the vaporous cloud, his entire skin burning like fire. He feels the poison seeping in through his pores, sapping his health (OOC: You made the Fort save but still take 2 points on Constitution damage). Turning around he sees two of the remaining guardsmen about to draw their weapons and rush the crazed-looking man as they yell loudly for help. The cloud is quickly advancing towards all of you.
OOC: You may still make a standard action this round. After that the crazed-looking man and the watchman will get their actions. Next round everyone else joins.

 

[Hypersmurf]

OOC: You may still make a standard action this round. After that the crazed-looking man and the watchman will get their actions. Next round everyone else joins.

OOC: Oops - by saying 'staying as close to the wall as possible', I'd intended to pass through the cloud at the narrowest point - which, as it happens, would have had me exiting pretty much on top of the crazy man. Rather than in the middle of the alley, which is about as far away from the wall as possible, and involves spending far longer in the horrid acidic flesh-eating gas cloud

Does that clarification change things at all?

 

[Branding Opportunity]

OOC: Well, that would have made you run right into the loco guy, which would have made you stop, which means you would still be in the cloud. You could have run around him I guess ... Well, since he can't make an AoO, I guess that would have been possible. Hmm, OK, will redo the last post.

 

[Hypersmurf]

OOC: Well, that would have made you run right into the loco guy, which would have made you stop, which means you would still be in the cloud. You could have run around him I guess ... Well, since he can't make an AoO, I guess that would have been possible. Hmm, OK, will redo the last post.

OOC: And my natural reaction at that point would be to grapple him... which means moving into his square... which means not still being in the cloud.

 

[Scotley]

Morley Human Ranger

OOC: Are we on the street yet? When we do get there to what extent can we see the action through the cloud? Can we see the bodies of the fallen or otherwise have reason to see the cloud is dangerous?