The Misadventures of the Missed Adventurers

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[since i'm tired and i just watched pinky and the brain...are they still tube socks after they've been worn for a while?]

narp "i never studied subconsiously triggered magical skills."

D "since your emotions and your subconsience are linked, calming yourself will reduce the number of side effects - after all, people can think things they wouldn't do."

ooc:[i'm going to sleep now. as an interesting experiment, push your arms against the side of a doorframe for a bit, then drop your arms and relax all your arm muscles. if you've got them all relaxed, your arms should rise.]

[ June 21, 2003, 08:40: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Krsqk]

[ooc: I will be out for probably most of this week due to computer problems. I might be able to slip a post or two in before then, but don't count on it. If you'd like to go exploring or something, feel free, especially since I never said anything about joining you yet. I'm sure I can catch up later. Enjoy the journey!]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[ok.]

[Jack Simth]

After a bit, Jack squints and looks at the terrain below

Jack "Does that look like a town to you?"

D "Yes, yes it does."

Jack "Shall we go take a closer look? They may have more information about what has been going on."

D "Or at least some decent ale."

Jack "What about you, Arthur?"

Arthur "I'll be staying here for a while longer - I think I see a few things that might be the remnents of my house."

Jack "What about you, Narp?"

ooc:[Arthur was living here, and it is fairly rare to get someone living very far away from everyone else; it makes sense that there would be a town nearby.]
ooc:[Hope to see you again soon, Krsqk]

[ June 22, 2003, 06:05: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Narp "by all means. although we should be cautious, there probably scared, and scared people often act hastily."

Jack, Narp and D head west down the mountain toward the town.

[ June 27, 2003, 05:17: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

After walking for a while, the group comes across a very orderly cobblestone road that looks freshly put down, which appears to head towards the town.

Jack "That's odd; how did this road survive all the changes?"

Jack looks at the road more closely.

Jack "Ahh, I get it - natural magic. Some of the more skilled craftsmen have it without knowing it. In the case of cobblestones, it shows up as an enchantment on the stones that keeps them in place; that enchantment must have doubled as a stabilizer while things were shifting. Interesting."

D "Yes, but the real interesting question is why someone went to the trouble of building a cobblestone road outside of town."

Jack "There may have been a town here at the time. Remember Arthur's house?"

D "You have a point. Still though, cobbles are usually only put down in wealthier neighborhoods; perhaps this was the route to the local manor?"

Jack "That would make for a good road to have bandits on, what with the tax money and merchants and all, wouldn't it?"

D "It might. Of course, it would be routinly patrolled by the local lord's knights to prevent that."

Jack "Yes, but with all the confusion, some strange things might happen. Ah well, we shall see."

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[help! a cliche's got me!]
narp, quietly "don't look now, but somebodies watching us."
D "where?"
narp "forty feet ahead, behind the reddish-brown tree. one of you should check for more."

narp shrugs his shoulders, as if he's stretching. it also loosens the straps of his sheild.

[Jack Simth]

ooc:[Oh, I don't know - Arthur's experience suggests some twists are possible, doesn't it? ]

D (quietly) "That's the lookout. Now that I'm looking, I can sense six more completely hidden behind the trunks of large trees, presumably waiting for a shout from the lookout. There are three about ten feet ahead of lookout and three about ten feet behind. It would appear that their plan is to have travelers surrounded."

Jack (quietly) "Also, there is something bothering me about that cherry tree behind the lookout. So, should we walk into the trap or try to preempt it?"

ooc:[Have you ever read the Xanth series? They have some very interesting cherry trees there....]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ooc:[please, no punishment, or i shall have to 'fire' you. ]

narp "well, this seems simple if one of you has an invisibility spell. you just cast a spell of silence on the lookout, D. then, jack, you put him in a bubble and one of you makes sure it's invisible from the start. then we charge. or one of you could put an invisibility spell on us and then D casts silence, then we charge. or we could just charge."

[ June 22, 2003, 07:11: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Jack Simth]

ooc:[Ahh, you have read Xanth, or at least heard of it. Let's see, we did give D invisibility, right? If not, we have now.]

Jack (quietly) "Hmm, then we could take them one by one, couldn't we?"

D (quietly) "Nobody's watching the lookout; sloppy of them. I can handle the invisibility, and the silence; unfortunately, invisibility spells fall apart at the first brush of battle. Invisibility is good for a first strike, but we would be visible again after that."

Jack (quietly) "All right then; we silence and contain the lookout, then take them down one at a time?"

D (quietly) "That's the plan."

Jack (quietly) "Won't the others hear the battle sounds?"

D (queitly) "Not much we can do about it."

With that, D silences the lookout, and Jack places a bubble around him, while D makes the bubble invisible.

As D, Narp, and Jack approach the lookout, the lookout tries to signal his comrades, and looks very panicked when he can't.

Jack (quietly) "So, which one first?"

ooc:[Okay - so you decide what the tree does, and which way it goes.]
ooc:[Actually, there are a few twists we could put on this fairly easily - there isn't anything that says these people have to be bandits, after all; one person to challenge travelers while several lurk in the shadows for backup works well for toll roads or tax collectors or the local law enforcement or ....]

[ June 22, 2003, 10:07: Message edited by: Jack Simth ]