CH. 12: Testing Grounds

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Old Fort, Tower Level 10)
Looking upward, Haahqae spots a small hatch in the ceiling that leads outside, to the tower's roof. However, it's nowhere large enough to accommodate a creature of this size. It's maybe big enough for a horse to be lowered through it, but not something nearly 10 times that size. There don't appear to be any other visible exits, either, aside from the door the gnome entered through.

None of the coin is near the doorway, it's all in one large pile on which the dragon sits upon. He has no choice but to creep closer to the dragon in order to get near enough to grab any of the coin.

Kendra Greylock (Market Street)
Kendra makes her way to Market Street, a large street that cuts across the center of Haven from one side to the other, with the grand market in the middle of it. It's around Eighth Watch by the time she arrives. She notices several posters up on various buildings with her picture on them, encouraging people to sign up with the army or advertising the upcoming parade. The drawing of her is a pretty good likeness. It must have been agonizing to draw her hundreds of times like that.

A number of times, people seem to recognize her and will point and whisper to each other. It seems she's already fairly well known now, thanks to those posters.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Haven Sewers)
Shima tries to aim for the creature's underbelly instead, but its sword-like legs get in the way, blocking the spear's thrust. It seems any upward attack has a risk of getting deflected by its legs, regardless of where they are aimed. Ne-Chanz continues slashing at it with his long swords, but has no better luck in piercing its defenses. The spider bites Ne-Chanz again, drawing more blood. But it's not enough to take the minotaur down just yet.

Meanwhile, the other spider begins busily wrapping up Felran into a cocoon of webbing.

Initiative
Ne-Chanz (1d10+5): 8+5 = 13
Shima (1d10+6): 1+6 = 7
Giant Spider 01 (1d10+6): 10+6 = 16
Giant Spider 02 (1d10+6): 9+6 = 15

Round 2!

Shima stabs his spear at Giant Spider 02 from behind (+2 hit) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 15] (1d20-2): 12-2 = 10, miss.
Ne-Chanz slashes his primary long sword at Giant Spider 02 with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 14] (1d20-3): 10-3 = 7, 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): 12-5 = 7, miss.
Giant Spider 02 bites at Ne-Chanz [TN 9] (1d20): 15, hit for (2d4): 3,4 = 7 damage. Ne-Chanz is now moderately wounded.
Giant Spider 01 begins wrapping Felran up in a cocoon.

(OOC: Actions for Round 2?)

[Haahque]

Well color Haahqae totally confused as to how the dragon got in. He’s damn sure that the keep was not built around this huge creature, and he really can’t see any mages hanging around on the roof to teleport the creature into the treasury multiple times a day. Are dragons like various ooze like creatures that can squeeze their body through very small spaces due to lack of anatomy? Looking at the thing it sure doesn’t look like that’s the case. Really, quite a mystery. Who knows, maybe one of the walls is illusionary.

However, Haahqae doesn’t have any indication as to which wall that might be, and he has to return through the door he entered through to relock it and make it as if he was never here in the first place, so this quandary doesn’t affect his actions much, if at all. On the other hand, it doesn’t take a great mage to know that Haahqae’s survival here depends very much on not waking the dragon, so he makes his way as quietly as gnomically possible towards the dragon until he’s within arm’s reach of the coins.

If he reaches his destination in one piece, he unslings his bag and withdraws the pieces of cloth that he bought to dampen the sound of collecting the coins. Then he starts pulling coins off the pile, one at a time (so that they don’t make any sound) and placing them on the first piece of cloth in such a manner so that the coins do not overlap. Once he’s got a single lair of coins on the cloth, he places the second cloth on top of that and creates a second lair of coin, protected from the first by the cloth. Given enough time, he repeats this creating a third lair of coins on top the third piece of cloth, then places the fourth piece of cloth on top of all the others to make a coin and cloth sandwich, each coin touching no coins above or below it.

He’ll make sure to leave some room without coin around the edges, so that he can roll up the ends of the clothes and not have any of the coin fall out, then he’ll roll the entire blanket of money up and place it in his bag.

(Or that’s the plan anyways, and I am expecting trying to be this quiet make the entire process quite long, one coin at a time for 1000 coins (at 1 coin per second) is slightly more than 15 minutes, add pauses to make sure he isn’t being heard, time for laying out the cloths and collecting the coins might be slightly slower than 1 per second. All told, Haahqae’s probably going to be here upwards of half an hour. Haahqae better hope his luck score is higher than the majority of his stats).

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra decides to approach some of the people pointing and whispering about her. "Good morning," she says with a light smile.

[Chris1234]

Shima tries to stab the creature from behind again, still using a two handed grip.

{OOC: SOrry I got the 2H stats wrong as this is a Large creature, so I should have cited 2d6 dam & SF6, but modified by Two-hander style specialisation (reduces SF by 3, & +1 to dam for 1H weapons wielded in 2H) so 6-3=SF3, & 2d6+1 dam}

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz goes for an all-out attack, slashing from above, using his height as an advantage.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Old Fort, Tower Level 10)
Haahqae manages to sneak toward the dragon without making any noise at all. He then begins the slow, incredibly tedious work of collecting the coins. Time seems to crawl by at a snail's pace, as the knowledge that even a single clink of coin, a random sneeze, any sound at all could waken the dragon.

However, if the gnome was good at anything, it was stealth. He could be as quiet as a mouse when he needed to be, and after a significant amount of time had passed, he had managed to acquire all 1,000 steel coins while the dragon continued to snooze peacefully.

Haahqae attempts to move silently toward the dragon [TN 95%] (1d100): 12, pass.
Haahqae attempts to take 200 steel coins silently [TN 95%] (1d100): 20, pass.
Haahqae attempts to take 200 steel coins silently [TN 95%] (1d100): 71, pass.
Haahqae attempts to take 200 steel coins silently [TN 95%] (1d100): 18, pass.
Haahqae attempts to take 200 steel coins silently [TN 95%] (1d100): 58, pass.
Haahqae attempts to take 200 steel coins silently [TN 95%] (1d100): 24, pass.

Kendra Greylock (Market Street)
Kendra approaches an elderly couple and speaks with them. "It is you, isn't it?" asks the old woman. "The Hero of Haven? I heard you took out some kind of fire breathing monster with your bare hands."

"No, I heard it was a monster made out of fire, and she defeated it with her swords," the man adds.

"We heard about the parade. We just want to thank you for saving our city. We promise we'll be there, front and center, to cheer you on," the old woman promises.

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Haven Sewers)
While the other spider is distracted with wrapping up Felran, the others continue attacking the other one. Ne-Chanz tries to attack it from above, but he is only 6'11" which is quite tall for a person, but rather short for a minotaur. The spider is 12' in size, so even he is too little to attack in such a way. But he does manage to get in a lucky hit, getting through the legs and hitting the creature's thorax. It hisses in pain and now is in bad shape, but its legs block the second attack and Shima's, as well.

The spider manages to bite Ne-Chanz again, but this time it's not a particularly bad wound. Still, he won't be able to keep this up forever.

Initiative
Ne-Chanz (1d10+5): 6+5 = 11
Shima (1d10+3): 6+6 = 12
Giant Spider 01 (1d10+6): 1+6 = 7
Giant Spider 02 (1d10+6): 7+6 = 13

Round 3!

Giant Spider 01 continues wrapping Felran up in a cocoon.
Ne-Chanz slashes his primary long sword at Giant Spider 02 with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 14] (1d20-3): 19-3 = 16, hit for (1d12+3): 4+3 = 7 damage. 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): 14-5 = 9, miss.
Shima stabs his spear at Giant Spider 02 from behind (+2 hit) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 15] (1d20-2): 8-2 = 6, miss.
Giant Spider 02 bites at Ne-Chanz [TN 9] (1d20): 16, hit for (2d4): 1,2 = 3 damage.

(OOC: Actions for Round 3?)

[HorizonsDream]

"Well, I'm a citizen of Haven too. I did what I had to to save the people and the city," Kendra assures the elderly couple. "So, thank you for the support. Though, I was hoping the ask the two of you a few questions. Do you know the market place well?"

[Chris1234]

Shima again tries to stab the creature from behind, still using a two handed grip.

[TristenC]

Grubnick nods along, I know what you mean. When I first saw him he was bent on finding Haahque, but I don't think he even knew him... makes me wonder what he was up to... the goblin shrugs. Maybe he's just zealous, but I get the same 'merchant' feeling from him... he was there the day of the attack too. He showed up right after the attack, but he looked like he'd been through a wringer... Said he'd been working with our mutual acquaintances the, Fiery-haired elf and the Minotaur on something or other... he seemed a little dissatisfied with it.

[Haahque]

(OoC: I see only 4 move silently checks of 200 steel each, for a total of 1000 steel that I’ve collected. I’m not complaining but I thought I’d mention that this doesn’t add up to me. Perhaps each roll was for 250 steel?)

Haahqae is VERY good at being quiet when he needs to. And he’s never needed to be quieter then right now in his entire life. However, that doesn’t mean that he enjoys being quiet for so long. Really, it’s somewhat maddening not being able to make a sound for such a long period of time. If he were at home or somewhere where noise didn’t equate to probable death, he probably would have been humming a tune while doing a painstakingly slow task like this. He might have left it for a few minutes, practiced juggling a bit then gone back to it. Perhaps fetch a snack or just rest for a bit. However, none of those are options right now. For background noise, all he has is the dragon’s deep breathing. Somehow, that sound isn’t very comforting.

When he finally completes his task and bundles up the money into his bag, he gets up and slowly makes his way back to the door he came in, which he will do his best to open quietly, just enough for him to slip through and close it again, locking the door once he’s through.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Old Fort, Tower Level 9)
Haahqae silently shuffles out of the vault and slips back out and closes the door. He then pulls out his picks again and attempts to relock the door. But even with the help of his potion, he finds he cannot do so. He'll have no choice but to leave it unlocked.

Haahqae attempts to sneak out of the vault quietly [TN 95] (1d100): 10, pass.
Haahqae spends (1d10): 5 rounds trying to reverse-pick the masterwork lock (-40%) while highly perceptive (+10%) [TN 20%] (1d100): 97, fail. He is unable to relock it.

(OOC: Yes, I see that I forgot to include the last stealth roll. I went back and edited it in.)

Kendra Greylock (Market Street)
"Of course," the old man says. "We've lived here in the market district our whole lives. What do you want to know, young lady?"

[HorizonsDream]

"Well, as you know, there is going to be a parade," Kendra explains. "But that large amount of people could also lead to some trouble, so I'm kind of hoping to learn the layout of the market place just in case there is trouble. I like to know my surroundings so that I can better protect Haven and the people."

[djhyland]

"What do you suppose he was doing with Felran and Shima? Arulia asks. "And how did he look like he'd been through the ringer? He wasn't burned, was he? Maybe it's best to stay away from Shima." She puts down her tools and begins cleaning up her work area. "We should look for the thieves, I think. Do you have any idea where to find for the women the trapper told you about?"

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz runs under the spider's body, then attacks upward.

[JadedDM]

Kendra Greylock (Market Street)
"Eh?" asks the old woman. "But aren't you from this city, too? Everyone said you were a citizen, that you grew up here your whole life like the rest of us. Shouldn't you already know the area?"

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Haven Sewers)
Ne-Chanz avoids another bite from the sword spider, then tries to slip through its defenses to get under it. However, it's sword like legs block his way. With no other choice, he attacks again with his swords. This time he gets lucky and manages to get in a cut, ending the creature's life.

However, the other spider has just finished wrapping up Felran and now turns its gaze to the dwarf and minotaur hungrily.

Initiative
Ne-Chanz (1d10+5): 5+7 = 12
Shima (1d10+3): 5+6 = 11
Giant Spider 01 (1d10+6): 2+6 = 8
Giant Spider 02 (1d10+6): 2+6 = 8

Round 4!

Giant Spider 01 finishes wrapping Felran up in a cocoon.
Giant Spider 02 bites at Ne-Chanz [TN 9] (1d20): 3, miss.
Shima stabs his spear at Giant Spider 02 from behind (+2 hit) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 15] (1d20-2): 11-2 = 9, miss.
Ne-Chanz makes a DEX check to try and slide under Giant Spider 02 [TN 11] (1d20): 16, fail. He slashes his primary long sword at Giant Spider 02 with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) against its sword-like legs (-4 hit) [TN 14] (1d20-3): 18-3 = 15, hit for (1d12+3): 12+3 = 15 damage. Giant Spider 02 dies.

(OOC: Actions for Round 5?)