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From humbug Wed Jun 23 03:00:14 1999
From: humbug
Subject: yet more.
Newsgroups: redbrick.rpg.board
Organization:
Summary:
Keywords:
User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-980202 (UNIX) (SunOS/5.7 (i86pc))
Status: RO
Content-Length: 9886
Lines: 165
More fun and near deaths.
The party continue towards Bone Hill, talking as they walk, all except the
paladin, who greets most attempts at conversation with a stern glare (but
who can really tell from beneath that helmet).
The bottom of the hill is in due course reached, as is the trail
marked on the map, and the party press onwards up the hill. Late in the
same day a lone figure is spotted walking towards the group. Nickos calls
out and the person stops. Greebo tugs Nickos' sleeve and the two wizards
walk forwards to talk to the man. He seems friendly enough, and is
presumed to be the wizard of whom the townsfolk spoke. Greebo asks him
about the teleport room, and the man responds that he thinks he knows what
Greebo is talking about. Greebo asks for the party to be taken there, but
the man seems afraid, and so only Nickos and Greebo go onwards with the
man.
A while later up the hill, as Greebo and the wizard are talking
about the nature of the teleport room, the wizard is seen to gesture to
the side of the path, and then run off. Nickos and Greebo are surprised to
see, but not taken by surprise by four of the shortsword guys along with
four strange flying creatures with large proboscises. Not liking the look
of the odds Nickos and Greebo take to their heels, Nickos shouting at the
top of his voice, and Greebo chirping at the top of his. Nickos bundles
Greebo under his arm as he runs past, and almost at the same time takes as
much damage as is possible from two 'magic missiles' cast by the wizard.
All of the creatures pursue, in fact, almost on top of the two
mages. Greebo is struck by one of the flying creatures, and falls
unconscious. Nickos is horrified to see the creature grow visibly fatter
as it sucks out Greebo's blood, but decides to keep running. Burdened by
Greebo and the creature attached to him Nickos is soon hit by one of the
shortsword guys, and thereafter by one of the flying creatures, and also
falls.
Coming to with Los and Eltric standing over him, Nickos asks what
transpired.
Being of the same faith, Los and Eltric have managed to combine their
healing abilities to restore Nickos, where otherwise there would have been
a 50% chance of Eltric not being able to heal him, thus killing him for
good.
With respect to the creatures, they are slain, but not the wizard.
The group have been holding up in a clearing in the forest, waiting (Los
can heal but once a day) to heal Nickos and Greebo.
With everyone rested, and spells learned, the party press on towards the
ruins atop Bone Hill, expecting an ambush. Before the top of the hill is
reached Eltric has an idea. The party wait behind a boulder, and Nickos
casts 'phantasmal force' sending an illusion of the party onwards up the
hill towards the ruins (a tower and a castle).
The ruse works. From out of the tower come eight of the shortsword
guys, followed by the wizard. Nickos attempts to make the illusory party
fall back, but his concentration falters, and they disappear. The enemies,
who were about to attack the illusion, are left standing, and the party
attack with ranged weapons.
Nickos casts 'Melf's acid arrow' striking the enemy wizard, doing
fair damage, and knowing it will at least do the same in the next round.
Los hits one of the small guys with his heavy crossbow killing it. The
ranged weapons are dropped and the group charge at the enemy and meet
about halfway to the ruins.
As the two groups stand to face each other the enemy wizard throws
something to the ground and a lion appears, charging straight for Nickos.
Greebo and Slate are faced with two enemies each, Los and Eltric are faced
with one each. Nickos and the enemy wizard stand behind their respective
parties. Chanti is heading around towards the back of the enemy wizard,
with the final shortsword guy heading for Nickos.
As the fight begins the enemy gain the initiative. Of the people
in melee only Eltric is struck, but not badly injured. Nickos is hit by
two 'magic missiles' cast by the enemy wizard, and his own spellcasting is
interrupted. Nickos is thankful not to be hit by the lion, who only
reaches him by the end of the round. Greebo casts his 'burning hands'
spell at the enemies in front of him, and kills all 3, including the one
that was attacking Los. Eltric strikes the enemy in front of him, but
Slate misses his enemy. Los has nobody to attack thanks to Greebo, but
manages to turn his attention to Eltric's opponent, but still misses.
As the next round begins Chanti is still moving towards the back of the
enemy wizard, but is struck by arrows from the tower. Greebo casts
'light', attempting to blind the wizard, but he saves, and Greebo fails.
Nickos is attacked by the lion, but missed both times, and then manages to
levitate away. Eltric hits his opponent again, killing it. Slate misses
his opponent with both of his attacks this round. Los turns to attack the
lion and hits it with his two-handed sword, doing lots of damage (but not
compared to what can be done). Next round, Eltric casts 'aid' on Slate,
who continues to attack the two guys in front of him. Los misses the lion,
but is hit by both of the lion's front claws, and consequently raked by
the back claws, but not killed. Los is missed by the shortsword guy and
the lions bite though. Nickos continues levitating, and Chanti, missed by
more arrows, reaches the enemy wizard just as he is drinking a potion,
seeming to restore the damage caused by the acid arrow. On the wizard's
orders Nickos becomes the target of the arrows and is struck once. Chanti
attacks with his dagger, missing, and Greebo reaches the wizard. Slate
again misses the guy in front of him.
In the next round Chanti is lucky to be alive, when the enemy
wizard messes up casting 'magic missile' at him. Chanti then strikes with
his dagger, causing minor damage. Nickos remains in the air, attempting to
shield himself from the arrows with his backpack. Los is attacked by the
lion who hits with its claws and Los falls to the ground. Eltric was in
the process of healing Los, and just as Los has regained his footing the
lion bites, and Los again falls, this time worse. Slate now slays one of
his opponents, and turns his attention to the lion.
As the next round begins the enemies, excepting the lion, begin to
flee. As the wizard takes off he is struck by both Greebo and Chanti, who
criticals, but only with his dagger, so doesn't kill. Slate hits the lion,
not killing. Nickos remains in the air, missed by the archers, one of whom
fumbles, slips, falls from the window and dies. Eltric moves to heal Los,
but the lion is in the way. As the wizard flees Chanti and Greebo give
pursuit, but the wizard reaches the tower, and locks the door behind him.
Nickos then lands and casts 'levitate' on the lion, leaving Slate swinging
into the air. After Eltric has healed Los, who survives the resurrection,
Nickos lets the lion drop and it shatters like a rock into several small
pieces. Nickos is thereafter struck by an arrow and falls unconscious, but
is straight away healed by Los' laying on of hands. In the meantime Greebo
and Chanti are still at the door to the tower and are attacked by the two
shortsword guys who had fled. Both of the enemies miss their attacks, and
are then slain by Chanti and Greebo. Slate reaches the door soon after,
and sets about cutting it down with his axe. Eltric, Nickos and Los are
running towards the tower so as that Eltric is the only one being hit by
arrows. Soon enough the whole party are together at the door to the tower,
except that the door isn't there, because Slate has just finished knocking
it in.
As far as the party are concerned there is the wizard and one
archer left to deal with. Slate and Eltric go in, the rest of the party
too injured to help. Chanti attempts to climb the outside wall, but fails.
The tower consists of two floors, with a tall staircase between. As the
rest of the group wait downstairs noises of fighting and smashing are
heard, and soon enough Eltric and Slate are walking down, Eltric holding
the archer guy by the neck. Chanti is able to understand the archer guy
when he is wearing his helmet, but he doesn't have much to say other than
that he has soiled himself.
It is learned that the little guys are mercenaries being paid a
pittance by the wizard for their services. There is no sign of the wizard,
and the little guy says that he just gathered up some stuff and then
vanished. Greebo and Nickos want to kill the little guy, but nobody else
does, so he is kept prisoner.
The party are badly in need of rest, healing and time to relearn spells,
so it is decided to rest up in the tower. Slate is sick of guard duty, so
Chanti and Greebo take turns. Eltric finishes meditating and heals
everyone, then meditates again. Nickos takes longer to finish, and when he
does casts the 'armour' spell on himself and Eltric.
The upper room of the tower appears to have belonged to the
wizard, but most of it is all smashed up. The only items of interest are a
vial of putrid liquid and three chests, one wooden and two metal, all
locked and secured to the ground. The wooden chest is soon opened by
Eltric (who has carpentry equipment) and Chanti. It is full of gold coins.
Six roughly equal piles are made, and everyone gets around forty gold
pieces. Nickos casts 'acid arrow' into the locking mechanism of the second
chest, and it is thereafter opened by Slate. All it contains is piles of
robes, but they are taken along in any case. From out of the pocket of one
falls a small bat figurine. Nickos takes it, hoping it to be something
like the lion (the pieces of which were subsequently recovered).
With no current means to open the third chest the party head for
the castle, looking for the teleport room and the wizard. A little bit of
exploring was done before..
People got tired and we called it a night.
humbug.
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