The Secret of Bone Hill - L1 DCC conversion Play By Post

[beermotor]

Fosco carefully tips the boot over, and a large viper slides out with a hiss, landing on the rocks and sliding immediately down into the small voids between them in the rubble pile. The boot feels empty, now.

The boots look like the ones in the middle of this picture... http://www.flickr.com/photos/bolotbootur/5101642090/

[beermotor]

For the characters moving into the courtyard, your dim torchlight illuminates what looks to be blasted and burned rocks. You notice a few bleached bones among the stones and dust, too. To your right, in the dim torchlight/moonlight, you can see what looks like another break of some kind in the outer wall of the structure. (These three characters, roll a Luck check - i.e., roll d20, subtract Luck bonus or add penalty, if applicable, and try to get under your Luck score; just tell me whether you succeed or fail.)

[GnomeBoy]

There are four in the area, so I'll roll for all of them... I'll also define who's where, approximately. Use what you will.

Darrow - hanging closer to the opening, moving to center of the courtyard, over-watch, ready to fire an arrow - roll of 4, Luck of 12

Hector - moving straight back toward the far wall - roll of 20, Luck of 10

Flavia - moving to the left wall (from entrance), making use of 10-ft pole - roll of 10 (9 unmodified), Luck of 7

Chendris - moving to the right wall, muttering in gnoll - roll of 16 (17 unmodified), Luck of 15


...three down?

[MrHemlocks]

Fosco, looking at his old beaten and battered boots, comes up with a brilliant idea. " I will take off these old boots and replace them with these newer ones. If anything I least got some new boots to keep my feet warm this winter."

Fosco rolls luck 14=fail
Thorin rolls luck 4=pass
Gandolf rolls luck 7=pass

[beermotor]

(Only GnomeBoy's chars get the Luck roll.)

Darrow the Hunter hears something to his right, toward the other opening in the outer wall that he can only see dimly in the torchlight and moonlight. The wind whips around a bit and he picks up a faint stench of decay, too. Chendris moves in that direction but doesn't yet see or smell or hear anything.

Flavia comes up to a fairly intact stone wall. It's about forty feet long and runs north, from the outer wall to the south. Poking around with the 10' pole doesn't uncover anything immediately.

Soon Hector is pretty far away from the others (the "courtyard" is very large). Does he keep going? Does he stop and turn back? Choices, choices!

Fosco's feet are immediately warmer. The boots fit his feet well, and are very fine, well made. In town, these would fetch a pretty nice price.

[GnomeBoy]

No one should really be beyond short range of an arrow shot, except Hector in his agitated state may lose track...

If Darrow detects/suspects anything, he's calling to the entire group (not just my other three) since he is nearest the opening, that "another foul creature is here!"

If he can get a clean shot off at it, he will ~ shortbow/arrow - roll of 19 to hit - 3 damage.

If he needs to shout at Chendris to drop, he will.

Hector comes running, as does Flavia -- preparing to use the 10-ft pole like a polearm...!

[ragboy]

(lurking: Great stuff!)

[beermotor]

At the sound of Darrow's shout, there's an answering noise, a gurgling snarl, very much like the sounds uttered by the other corpse thing that was just bashed into silent oblivion by the rubble pile...

And that's just what Darrow finds, arms outstretched at the edge of the circle of dim torchlight, snapping its maw of cracked teeth, something that was once human but is now ... some sort of vicious guard dog? For it, too, is chained, the collar around its neck preventing it from moving beyond what looks like a ruined portal of some kind, a rubble-filled and crumbling hole in the exterior eastern wall, leading out into the cold darkness of the plateau.

(No initiative necessary, as before...Darrow hasn't fired yet unless he'd like to [potentially] waste the arrow.)

[GnomeBoy]

He'll hold the shot, and direct my other three to stay their charge. Basically, we'll hem the thing in, so to speak, all ready to bash at it/shoot at it if needs be -- but otherwise, wait for input from others as they catch up to this point.

Chendris murmurs to it in gnoll, looking for any reaction...

Flavia is ready to 'run it through' with the 10-ft pole, aware that her proximity shouldn't interfere with Darrow's potential shot.

Hector is turning his head this way and that way, expecting more to pop up from the earth or leap out from the very bricks of the walls, or drop from the skies, or, or, or...

[MrHemlocks]

Gandolf and Fosco stand a few yards in front of the beast and get it's attention while Thorin comes up from behind and lays a pick axe to the back of it's head. "Now that is one guard dog we do not need to worring ourselves about. Now is it..."

Thorin, Gandolf and Fosco notice the rest of the party heading to yet another location and they waste no time, after killing and seaching the monster, meeting up with them.

[beermotor]

The meaty corpse, for this one is fresher than the previous, collapses in a heap, stinking and filthy, dark blood oozing out onto the blasted ground, black in the orange torchlight.

All is silent again, and the party is gathered before the ruined portal, it looks to have been some sort of arch, perhaps it had a door once upon a time.

+1 XP.

[MrHemlocks]

Thorin, after wrapping his hands in protective cloth, grabs the nearest dead monster and tosses it into to portal. " Now this is what I call dwarf tossing!" Thorin believes that any traps, if any, will be set off and snakes scared away.

[Crimsontree]

Portly Trim relights his torch to provide some more light for the group. Fritz watches behind them, fearful of more creatures sneaking up on them.

[beermotor]

The corpse is tossed through the rubble strewn portal, after the leather collar is cut off, but nothing interesting happens. To be clear, this is just another entrance in from the outside....

[GnomeBoy]

So I'm having trouble getting the picture of this place in my head...

We entered through a hole in a wall, into a courtyard, then through another wall into another courtyard, and that courtyard has another hole in the wall back to the outside?

Have I missed an 'exit' into something new?

Assuming that's the case, my four, in a similar spread as before, start looking for access to something new -- possibly leading to a 'basement'...

[beermotor]

The party entered through a crumbled hole in the south exterior wall into a large courtyard. There's some interior walls to the west. To the east, there's a ruined portal, gateway, whatever you want to call it.

[MrHemlocks]

Thorin, Fosco and Gandolf, beneath the shadows of the torch enter the gateway and prepare for whatever may come. ( OOC...does the path lead down or what? Any maps?)

[beermotor]

This looks like it was once the front entrance of the structure, it opens onto the cracked plateau. The dwarf and wizard's apprentice notice some bleached and broken bones amid the rubble here.

[GnomeBoy]

I believe, based on previous post, my four are more or less with Thorin, et. al. -- but they can take point, if they like...

[Crimsontree]

Portly Trim & Fritz remain at the back of the group, keeping a good lookout for trouble.

[beermotor]

This map may help you visualize what's going on. Click here.

You entered through the south hole in the exterior wall. The party is currently standing at the rubble pile on the east wall, which is the remains of an old gateway into / out of the structure. All is quiet, except for the whistling of the wind in the cracks of the stone walls. Your light is very dim, so it's difficult to see very far, but you think there's larger, more intact structures to the west and north, inside the walls.

[MrHemlocks]

Thorin takes charge of his little group and steps out into the eastern opening. But not untill after looking for traps and other undead guard dogs. Thorin feels this eastern opening might just be another way to enter/leave these ruins buts believes it is well worth checking out.

"Wait for us Mr. Dwarf."Hoping Thorin heard him Gandolf followed by Fosco are right on the heels of Thorin as he ventures onward...

[beermotor]

The broken, crumbling plateau is all that's outside the entrance, although a few more bones crunch beneath the dwarf's feet. He sees nothing else in the darkness. To the north, he can just barely make out a small tower close by, it looks like it would be accessed from inside the walls of the structure. And then, farther beyond that, maybe another sixty feet or more, is a circular tower-like structure, also part of the larger structure and likely accessed from inside.

Everybody roll a Luck check.

[MrHemlocks]

Thorin's luck is 9 and rolls 13
Gandolf's luck is 7 and rolls 4
Fosco's luck is 12 and rolls 19

[Crimsontree]

Fritz Duiveltongue roll = 1
Portly Trim luck roll = 13