[Game Thread] A Lament of Hunger

[UncaJJ]

Eberk Rumnaheim

"Aye Grimm, be putting up the keep... A rest be just the thing we do need before hauling tons o' precious goods back to the prince!"

Eberk bustles around gathering everyone to enter the keep and forcing down any half voiced protests with a concentrated stare.

 

Eberk Rumnaheim - Fighter 8/Tempest 3
Round: NA? - Royal Vault Entrance
Initiative: n/a
HP: 81 / 81
AC: 24 (F18 / T16) Without 2 weapons: 22/18/14
Saves: Fort: +10 Refl: +9 Will: +4
Effects:
Ignores flanking (Eyes in the back of your head feat)
Movement: 30ft. (Boots of Striding and Springing
Action Points used: 0/10
Actions:

[Ithamar]

"Er... umm... When you say all magic," stammers out Murth, coughing just a tad, "...what do you mean?" The skulk is suddenly worried he'll find himself stripped of his vestiges, left naked and defenseless against the unknown. "Can magic be enacted inside the fort?" he adds cautiously.

[UncaJJ]

Eberk Rumnaheim

Eberk stops in front of Murth and looks at him seriously, speaking deliberately to him. "Yeh not be having any problems Murth. I did be making sure when I did speak with the prince."

Eberks eyes keep darting toward Oathanor nervously as he speaks, his right hand caressing the haft of one of his waraxes. Sweat is starting to pop up on his brow.

OOC I think we've been using the keep for about a week on the trip here, right? So Murth might realize that the keep doesn't REALLY block any magic if he takes a second to think about it... ) Eberk will try to stop him or anyone else from actually mentioning this fact out loud...

 

Eberk Rumnaheim - Fighter 8/Tempest 3
Round: NA? - Royal Vault Entrance
Initiative: n/a
HP: 81 / 81
AC: 24 (F18 / T16) Without 2 weapons: 22/18/14
Saves: Fort: +10 Refl: +9 Will: +4
Effects:
Ignores flanking (Eyes in the back of your head feat)
Movement: 30ft. (Boots of Striding and Springing
Action Points used: 0/10
Actions:

[Caveman75]

Coughing and slapping his legs and fanny to clear dust from his garments, a handsome man of very unremarkable proportion stumbles up from behind the group. "How the hell did I get here, now? And where the hell is here?" Stepping closer he gets a look at who is gathered around. His eyes look truly bewildered and confused. "Murth, Edwin, is that you?" Truly elated, Caperius, grabs the two in a tight hug. With tears of relief and joy streaming down his eyes and leaving Alice Cooper trails in the dust on his face, he continues "Man, I never thought I would see any of you guys again! The last time I remember seeing you guys we were being chased by a bunch of villagers in an alternate time. Where have you guys been? What's going on?"

[mcl01]

Frustrated further and muttering incessantly now, the dwarf stamps around the wall. Between Oathanor and the blasted stone wall, his mood was fouled. Trying one last thing, he mutters a short incantation and strikes his wooden staff upon the earthen floor.

As wood and stone meet, a large clack reverberates through the room, leaving an unnatural stillness in its wake. For a moment, the air stills and noises dim by the flow of magic around Vaerun. Following the momentary hush, the ground underneath seems to ripple and surge. Short waves of earth congregate and mold the form of an earth elemental.

Breathing deeply now to calm himself, Vaerun begins to speak out orders in a primal, earthly voice. In deep Terran, the druid gives the elemental his instructions. Try penetrating this stone barrier and see if the way can be opened from the inside. Quickly now!

 

Vaerun uses summon elemental reserve feat. The medium-sized earth elemental should last 6 rounds.

[Colatine]

Nothing seems to be able to penetrate the vault, including the summoned elemental. Oathanor, still siting on the Dumathoin statue head, yawns.

"It's like i said, we need to rest so that i can memorize the spell...and Murth, not to worry it wont destroy you magics, only surpress the spells ." said a nervous Glibstone.


Well, it's lasted this long." Oathanor pats the vault door fondly, if a bit too hard. "I'm glad my people made this sort of door to last."

The group turns to leave the unstable hall, picking their way carefully through a maze of rubble. "We're going to go rest in our extradimensional fortress," says the now returning Edwin, along with the gnomes. "You're welcome to join us, but I'll warn you that as a matter of course we subject any visitors to a barrage of detection spells. We don't want you to be offended."

Oathenor seems to consider the offer, stroking his long beard in a most dwarfly manner. "You're kind to let me know. I don't take with all that magical business; I'm a simple hunter, and don't like people peering at me with magic." He nods his head in finality. "I suppose I'll sleep out in the cavern, then. The city can't be too dangerous, what with all the undead missing."

In the tumbled cavern outside of the palace, the warforged uses the small magical fortess trinket to create the fortress Only the deep gnome Priggle is left outside of the Castle, sleeping on the stone and keeping watch from inside the wall. Everyone else troops inside the extradimensional haven.

Glibstone collapses into a quivering mess, as he enters the comfortable fortress, which seems tailored to their needs. And much to everyone's surprise appears Caperius, muttering some odd nonsense.

The dwarven loremaster gulps, and his jester bells begin to jingle again slightly, this time out of fear. "I know a joke about dragons..." he hesitantly begins.

[Ithamar]

Murth stares at Caperius, unsure of what exactly just happened, but quite certain he is not altogether pleased about it. Disappearing into the shadows, he pops up behind him and lays a hand on his shoulder, not with an intent to harm, but with a subtle squeeze he lets the gnome know that escaping will not be altogether wise.

[UncaJJ]

Eberk Rumnaheim

As soon as the castle doors shut, Eberk immediately start swearing up a storm in dwarven. the rant goes on as if he was a sailor that just lost his ship, his life savings, his wife, his... well, it is so prolific that some of the younger dwarves in the contingent start blanching. Eberk makes his way through the keep, the sound of doors and cabinets banging punctuate his diatribe for a while until his shouting voice starts to come back towards the main hall.

The dwarf stalks into the hall now carrying a very expensive looking sealed cut-crystal decanter exquisitely shaped to resemble a dragon breathing fire all around it. Some of the dwarves recognize the bottle as Dragon's Breath Whiskey, the most potent beverage they know. Eberk stalks to within 10 feet of the fireplace and pries out the cork, the bottle shooting sparks and smoking as it comes loose. The dwarf suddenly falls silent for a few seconds before screaming at the top of his lungs.

"DROS!!!"

Spinning toward the rest of the room, he lifts the decanter high and starts singing in a deep, rough voice.

"♪♫Kind friends and companions come join me in rhyme.
Come lift up your voices in chorus with mine.
Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain
for we may and might never all meet here again.♫♪

♪♫Here's a health to the company and one to my lass.
Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass.
Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain.
For we may and might never all meet here again.♫♪"

As he finishes, the full decanter goes straight to his lips, half of the potent liquor quickly disappearing down his gullet before he turns and throws the beautiful decanter with all his strength into the fireplace, where it explodes into a million pieces and the remaining alcohol explodes in a fireball that singes the whiskers on Eberks face. He whirls back toward the center of the room with his whiskers still smoldering and screams at the top of his lungs.

I HATE DRAGONS!!!

He stands there panting and notices Caperius for the first time. He straightens up slightly as he narrows his rapidly blurring eyes at the figure before him.

"Oy! And who do yee be?"

 

Eberk Rumnaheim - Fighter 8/Tempest 3
Round: NA? - Royal Vault Entrance
Initiative: n/a
HP: 81 / 81
AC: 24 (F18 / T16) Without 2 weapons: 22/18/14
Saves: Fort: +10 Refl: +9 Will: +4
Effects:
Ignores flanking (Eyes in the back of your head feat)
Movement: 30ft. (Boots of Striding and Springing
Action Points used: 0/10
Actions:

I hope you don't mind me taking liberty with the whiskey... I just thought it was fitting!

[mcl01]

Quietly attempting to contemplating their situation, Vaerun drains his sixth jug of cheap ale in the room - for now a relatively silent one in the keep. In the midst of the conjured keep's extravagant luxury, this flame-lit, sparsely furnished room of hewn stone - a perfect complement to Vaerun's pragmatic personality - sticks out like a cloud giant in the midst of the horde of halflings. Formed simply through the mansion's magic and Vaerun's simple tastes, this room serves for him a respite from the excessive luxury elsewhere. The mansion had perceived Vaerun's thoughts impeccably, even forming a protruding balcony for him to view the surrounding Underdark. For now, it served as Kilhewn's stony roost. Through his mental link with his shadow eagle companion, he feels his companion's drowsiness as she stares out in the blackness.

Even through the flagged stone floor, however, Vaerun can hear the faint, muted sounds of the epic ruckus caused by that boisterous Eberk in the room below him. The dull roar had only slightly perturbed him before - while he was sober at least. He had spent many nights growing accustomed to - and even slightly amused by - Eberk's senseless drunken stupors. Now, finally buzzed by the excess of cheap ale in his blood, Venard grimaces at the interruption of a rather noticeable blast from downstairs. Swigging down a seventh flagon of beer (praise Charita for dwarven constitution!), he gets up and grabs his walking staff. Grumbling, with his judgment ever so slightly impaired, he taps his his ironwood staff upon the flagged stone, grumbling a half-audible incantation. Cracks appear in the floor below as the magic shapes the stone to Vaerun's will. Waving his staff, he growls low in his throat, growing twice his size and changing shape into that of a great bear. Smashing the greatly cracked stone surface, he sends rubble down to the floor below and leaving a gaping hole 2-3 feet wide in its wake. At the same time, he lets out a great roar, glaring at the Eberk below amidst stares of dumbfounded onlookers.

Storming off, the druid walks out towards the balcony grumbling and swaying. dismissing his bear form. Slamming the heavy door behind him, he walks onto the balcony to rest outside, a faint drunken grin slightly evident on his wrinkled face.

[Colatine]

The hours pass without incident. The group gathers together. The dwarven and gnome troops look agitated and nervous. Glibstone turns to the party.

"Ehh, so there is a dragon out there somewhere...I am sure you have thought up a fantastic plan!" he laughs weakly, looking hopefully at the group.

[mcl01]

Awake and -mostly- sober, Vaerun listens stoically as Glibstone speaks. At the mention of a dragon, his eyes widen, and a hint of unease flashes across the druid's face before fading into the druid's passive features. Coughing loudly amidst the uneasy murmurs surrounding him, Vaerun glances rapidly at the others in the group, trying to scrutinize their expressions before replying.

"A dragon you say...? You mean that suspicious 'dwarf' that's been tagging along with us? By Charita's tresses, this be as wonderful as a cave in. Glibstone, how did you know then? And I suppose the pressing question now is what should our next course of action be? Obviously that cursed dragon is after these hidden riches. The moment we manage to unlock the vault, I suspect we'll be forced to prove our mettle, in more ways than one."

[Colatine]

"Ehh, maybe when he sat on the broken statue of Moradin's head?" replies the jester. "So, where'd be the rest of you? Did they turn tail?"

[Caveman75]

Pfft, DRAGON I say a dragon is nothing but a bigger target for my daggers. Let's take him out! No treasure to share with a dragon!"