CH. 12: Testing Grounds

[TristenC]

Right, the thieves... I uh... I don't know why I was rambling... umm... Shit. You idiot, she's going to turn you in... and she already knows where you live! Wait... we met at the high hand, but she didn't know he lived there... did she? It was risky to stay and risky to move...
Anyway, I might have a lead on them I'm trying to track down... there were a couple of women in town masquerading as trappers. I spoke with the only real trapper in town, and so they're up to something. I described the Xyleena and Yvette, but nobody recognized them. The 'trappers' could be them in disguise... They could be completely different people, of course; but it's all I've been able to come up with...

[Haahque]

Haahqae had known that this lock was coming, he was slightly dreading the moment. He knew the theory behind picking locks, he's read some books, he's even practiced on some locks back in Nevermind, but he's never actually picked a lock (except that one he bought that one time when he was interested in trying to learn to pick locks). He's never picked a lock when it mattered. Here was his true test.

So, when one's unsure of one's abilities, they should augment them with magic whenever possible. Haahqae drinks the potion of perception and attempts to pick the lock.

[Chris1234]

Shima says, "Felran can you get the eastern one? (Where we came in!)" and, unless already about to be engaged by a speedy spider, attempts to get behind the northern spider to benefit from his improved rear attacking ability.

{OOC: I know it may all change with initiatives, but if the spiders didn't move, am envisaging attacking #2 from the square NE of its northern square (i.e. assuming that remains its rear)}

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Old Fort, Tower Level 9)
Haahqae takes out the potion of perception from his pack. He remembers when he first acquired it, from Raetmal at the mageware shop. It seemed so long ago. He quickly drinks it down, then places the empty bottle back into his pack. After a few seconds, his senses all seem much sharper. He notices details he missed before, he hears things that eluded him earlier, and so on.

Approaching the lock, he takes out his picks and sets to work. There is no need to rush--the potion will last awhile and nobody should come by here for some time. And even if they did, they wouldn't see him, thanks to his invisibility.

It's tedious, long work. But after nearly 10 minutes, he hears the lock make that satisfying click. The vault is now unlocked.

(Haahqae consumes a Potion of Perception and receives the following benefits for (1d4+4): 3+4 = 7 turns: OL and RT increase by 10%, FT and DN increase by 20%, he gets an additional +1 to surprise, chance to detect secret or concealed doors is doubled, a 25% chance to detect invisibility, and suffers a -2 penalty to saving throws against gaze and sonic attacks.
Haahqae spends (1d10): 9 rounds trying to pick the masterwork lock (-40%) while highly perceptive (+10%) [TN 20%] (1d100): 15, pass.)

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion)
"Beyond what we've already discussed so far, no," Tethys replies. "Just keep a sharp eye and ear out for trouble."

Tulbas Erogund (Tower of Wayreth, Guest Room)
Pressing his good ear against the crack, he listens to what he can.

"Now isn't the best time," says a woman.

"No, it is the perfect time," argues Magnus. "Our power is greatest tonight. It must be tonight."

"Their power is also greatest tonight," the woman counters.

"But they won't be prepared. They will be preoccupied," Magnus retorts. "You know I'm right."

There's a pause. The woman then asks, "What about you? What do you think?"

A third voice speaks; it sounds male, but gravelly and almost inhuman. "Would you dare defy her wishes?"

There is another long pause. "No, of course not," the woman replies. "Only a fool would oppose her."

"She's going to do it anyway, with or without us," Magnus points out. "If we are on her side, we'll be rewarded. If we do nothing or try to oppose her, we'll be crushed with the others. The choice seems clear."

"Very well, you have made your point," the woman says. "I'll tell the others. There is much to do first."

Tulbas hears a door open and then close, and then there is nothing but silence again.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Haven Sewers)
(OOC: Waiting on chese before beginning the first round.)

[chese780]

Felran moves to slam the greatsword down on the advancing spider from the east. (OOC: Number 1 I think?)

(OOC: More eastern invaders.)

[HorizonsDream]

"I'll let you get back to your work," Kendra says.

She leaves Tethys' office, and heads back out to do one of her patrols.

[djhyland]

Arulia nods, partially in agreement with Gobax's idea but mostly in relief that he's moved away from the subjects of rebellion and rogue clerics. "Looking into these so-called trappers sounds like the best lead I've heard so far," she says, declining to mention the girl in the tavern who claimed to know where to find Xyleena and Yvette. Was she working with this goblin, hoping to trick her into revealing herself to the Dragon Queen's church? Maybe or maybe not, but at least with Gobax she has a common interest in finding the stolen steel. If she can't trust his motives in general, she can at least trust his motives in helping her find the thieves. "Did the trapper tell you where we might find these imposters?"

[Haahque]

Haahqae is almost as surprised as he is relieved when he hears the click in the lock. If he hadn’t been able to pick the lock he would have had to resort to looking for another way around it, but now he’s getting closer than ever to his destination on this trip.

He takes a few moments to look in his pack one last time and make sure his strips of cloth were in order and ready to receive coin. Then he opens the door just enough for him to slip through and close the door as quietly as possible.

Surveying this room should prove quite interesting.

[TristenC]

No, he didn't have any ideas in that area. He was mostly just surprised anyone would even try to impersonate a trapper... I suppose the impostors figured a trapper is the last person anyone would question. To that end I asked his advice, on identifying a fake. He said to ask them "when is the best time of year to wear sparg pelts." Since there is no such thing as a Sparg the only right answe is they don't exist. He thinks back to something else the man said. You remember that shady-looking dwarf that popped up the day after we went to stop the belzorites? The trapper said someone matching his description had been looking for them too... you, uh... you don't know anything about him do you?

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Old Fort, Tower Level 10)
Slipping inside, Haahqae finds himself in a massive chamber. The walls have all been taken down to make room for the massive pile of coins in the middle of it, and the red dragon snoozing peacefully on top of it. It's completely pitch black with no light source at all, but with his infravision, Haahqae can take it all in.

The small mountain of coin is mostly steel, although there are some silver and copper in there, as well. It's hard to gauge just how much coin is present, but he would guess it is somewhere around the worth of 50,000 steel. This is the coin used to pay for soldier wages, their equipment and upkeep, and their training. It really does resemble a dragon's hoard, even if there wasn't a literal dragon sitting on it.

The dragon itself is somewhere around 100 feet in length, not including its spiked tail, which is probably another 100 feet in length. Its scales are a dull red color and as thick as shields and likely as hard as the steel it is sleeping on. It's large enough that it could accidentally swallow Haahqae whole and never even realize it. Fear itself seems to radiate from the creature's body in all directions. It breathes slowly, small puffs of black smoke emerging from its nostrils with every breath.

This will be, by far, the most difficult part of his heist. Even more so than cracking that lock. The dragon could kill him without effort. It wouldn't even need to resort to its infamous fire breath to do so. It could simply step on him without trying. Its claws could slice him in twain with a cat's swipe. Yes, that analogy seems apt. Haahqae is but a harmless mouse, and this thing...is like a mighty lion. And here he is, sneaking right up to it.

Kendra Greylock (Blade Street)
Kendra departs the mansion and exits the noble's district. She had her orders, she only needed to decide how she would proceed.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Haven Sewers)
Ne-Chanz charges northward, using the momentum to slam his blades at the spider. However, its legs don't just resemble swords, but seem almost as hard as them, as well! He is surprised to find his blades simply bounce off its legs as if they were covered in steel plating. It bites at Ne-Chanz, taking a little chunk from his arm, but otherwise he's okay. Shima comes up behind it to help, but he runs into the same problem. If they could attack from above instead to avoid its legs, it would be easier. This is easier said than done, though, as the spider is larger than both of them.

Meanwhile, Felran moves eastward to the other spider and slashes with his great sword. Not only does he miss, but the spider bites his arm in return. It's a minor wound and normally wouldn't have even slowed him down. But the lethal poison of the bite works its way through his bloodstream and into his heart instantly. His whole body goes cold, then numb. Darkness surrounds him as his now limp body falls to the stone ground and moves no more.

Initiative
Felran (1d10+10): 4+10 = 14
Ne-Chanz (1d10+5): 1+5 = 6
Shima (1d10+6): 9+6 = 15
Giant Spider 01 (1d10+6): 10+6 = 16
Giant Spider 02 (1d10+6-2): 7+6-2 = 11

Round 1!

Ne-Chanz charges (+2 hit/+1 AC) 10 feet north at Giant Spider 02 with his primary long sword and slashes at it with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 14] (1d20-1): 12-1 = 11, miss. He then swings his secondary long sword with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) with a slight imbalance (-2 hit) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 14 (1d20-5): 10-5 = 5, miss.
Giant Spider 02 bites at Ne-Chanz who just charged (+1 hit) [TN 9] (1d20+1): 14+1 = 15, hit for (2d4): 3,2 = 5 damage. Ne-Chanz is now lightly wounded.
Felran moves 15 feet east and swings his great sword at Giant Spider 01 [TN 13] (1d20): 8, miss.
Shima moves 15 feet north and then 10 feet northwest. He then stabs his spear at Giant Spider 02 from behind (+2 hit) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 15] (1d20-2): 5-2 = 3, miss.
Giant Spider 01 bites at Felran against his studded leather armor (-1 hit) [TN 11] (1d20-1): 12-1 = 11, hit for (1d8): 4 damage. Felran saves vs. poison [TN 13] (1d20): 9, fail. Felran dies.

(OOC: Damn. This sewer is now responsible for 2/3rd of PC deaths in this game.

Actions for Round 2?)

[Chris1234]

"Think we're outclassed here," says Shima, and tries to reach in to stab the creature in a softer part (body? {OOC: Maybe like a certain hobbit versus Shelob})

[Haahque]

Slipping inside the Vault Haahqae’s heart nearly stops as he sees the dragon face to face. Sure, he’s read about these things plenty, and he’s even seen a couple circling above the city recently, but it’s an entirely different thing to size up a creature of this size so close that he can feel the air get warmer as it breaths out. Many people might argue that a rational man, upon seeing this creature this close up, would call off the operation immediately, upon fear of their life.

Haahqae however has his own view of such things. Courage is something he’s inherited from his vast knowledge of all things, and his knowing that there would be a dragon here before he got here gives him courage to remain in the room. His heightened perception helps him notice that the dragon’s eyes are closed. The great beast which could accidentally kill him and not even know it, wasn’t even awake at the current moment. Knowledge that the dragon is asleep grants Haahqae the courage to inch his way towards the pile of steel, and knowledge that even if it should wake up that he’s invisible, tiny and the dragon would have no reason to suspect that he’s there gives him courage he needs to start assessing the pile of steel to see if he can find a small mound or sweet spot somewhere.

Somewhere, preferably as far away from the dragon’s head as possible, as close to the door as possible and with as much valuable stuff in it as possible. Haahqae’s looking to pick up approximately a thousand coins, so it needs to be a large enough pile, but with the size of this pile in total, it won’t make much of a dent in the main pile of coins here in total.

While he’s at it, Haahqae will try and verify his theory that the dragons can’t possibly get into the treasury through the tiny door he just entered through (tiny compared with the dragon, the door, like usual, dwarfs Haahqae). Such a theory could be verified by finding another exit to the room, a door, a window or anything that a large flying creature could use to enter the room.

(In order of importants for him, he wants to find a pile that’s close to the door (most important), as far away from the dragon’s head as possible (medium importance) and as highly valuable as possible (least importance)).

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra heads down to market street, as that is where the parade is going to start.

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz, with his back turned to his now dead friend, doesn't know what happened yet. He hacks and slashes at the spider in front of him.

[djhyland]

"Who, Shima?" asks Arulia, then shakes her head. "No, I'm afraid I don't know much about him. Other than that he seems overly friendly and eager. Like when you're in the marketplace, and the merchants know that you have a full purse...they'll act like they're your best friend, but you know that they're only interested in your money." She frowns. "Maybe I'm being unfair, but he comes across as...obsequious. He did seem competent when we went back to Belzor's lair, though."