Game Thread, Chapter 1: Stranger Things Have Happened

[Bozwevial]

Miles from the nearest inhabited town stands the mansion of the Marquise Sarai du Alhazred. Formerly an entirely charming mansion, the building now causes the eyes of the unaccustomed observer to water slightly--angles seem subtly wrong, lines seem impossibly straight or bent, and even colors appear strange. However, few people these days find the sight of the manor alarming--indeed, apart from the rare angry mob, only the inhabitants of the manor ever see it at all.

The cold season has arrived, and last night's snow has left the surrounding landscape an immaculate off-white. The sun is well above the horizon now; reflected light would nearly blind someone standing at one of the mansion's windows. For now, the grounds are silent. Inside, however, the mansion's peculiar inhabitants are stirring...

Take this time to get in something by way of an introduction.

[PhaedrusXY]

A nearly-naked red-scaled man with bulging muscles curses, and hurls a bowl across the kitchen at a servant and yells "I said I wanted DRY oats! What are you trying to do, kill me?" As he speaks, a gout of steam pours out of his open mouth from sores that can be seen forming inside of it. He goes to a cupboard, and begins eating raw, dry oats from a ceramic pot, pouring them directly into this gaping, fanged mouth. The wounds that previously formed can be seen to slowly close while he eats.

[Amechra]

All of a sudden, the room seems to be a little more... cheerful.

"Now, Urglmek, be reasonable. Next time, just put the bowl on the table nicely. It is hard to get help for this place, you know.
She smiles, flashing too sharp teeth. Her eyes glint with a light not all-together sane.

She turns to the servant, and says, in a charming yet slightly off voice,
"Now, Marie, remember not to put water on Urglmek's food. At all. After all, it is pretty much the same as if someone was to, oh I don't know, put arsenic in yours? Not that you have anything to worry about."
A light chuckle comes from nowhere, and Sarai takes a seat.
"Did everyone sleep well?"

[Nanshork]

Kyrish stands at the window in his room, looking outside and contemplating the peaceful unspoiled snow.  Upon hearing Urglmek yell, he sighs.  Why do his companions have to be so uncouth?

A hole appears in the wall of the kitchen a minute later and Kyrish walks through it, his bearing regal and erect.  The gold thread in his well tailored robes and cloak glint in the light, as does the gold thread in his headband and the gold filigree that adorns his bracers.  As the wall returns to its normal state of being, Kyrish looks at Urglmek through his gold rimmed spectacles and says, "For once can't we have a peaceful morning?  Do you not realize that you disturbed a time of quiet contemplation for me?"

Not waiting for a response, he looks around to see if there is anything worthy of a man of his stature to eat in this place.

[PhaedrusXY]

Overcome by the aura of peacefulness, Urglmek regains his composure and says "I apologize for the disturbance, but I thought knowledge of my... condition... should be common knowledge by now."

[Amechra]

"You must remember though, that Marie is new. Remember Tim? If you hadn't... Well, good morning Kyrish, I hope Urglmek's outburst hasn't disturbed you too much."

Sarai looks towards Marie, and gestures.

"Tea, if you can find any."

[Nanshork]

Kyrish shakes his head and sits down, ignoring those around him.  One would think that there would be some decent food in this place, but instead it seems that all he gets for breakfast is gruel.  How common!

Quietly using his powers of Truespeak, Kyrish turns his gruel from bland to delicious making it at least tastes like it deserves to be served to royalty.  

[Garryl]

Autpek absentmindedly wanders into the kitchen, his attention focused on tweaking an unfinished clockwork device with a screwdriver. Trailing him is a small, floating metal orb about the size of a pumpkin. Oblivious to the commotion that just occurred, he pulls a stool up to the closest available surface area and sets down his work to look at it more closely. Studying it intensely, Autpek looks to where two tiny gears have shifted, becoming misaligned.

"Artoo, could you hold this for a sec? I need to adjust gears 17 and 36. Yeah, just hold it right there."

The orb floats over and extends a small metal claw to grasp the clock, emitting a short "beep broop" when it has it firmly grasped. Autpek holds his screwdriver up to the clock. The screwdriver emits a whirring noise for a moment as the gears shift ever so slightly back into alignment. Satisfied with his work, Autpek looks up at the scene around him.

"Hey guys. When did you get down here?"




Vital Statistics

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 feet; Listen +9, Spot +9
AC 22, touch 11, flat-footed 20; +5 vs. ranged
Miss Chance 35%
DR 1/-
hp 124/124 (7 HD)
Fort +16, Ref +9, Will +16; don't auto-fail on 1s, +3 vs. illusions
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), Fly 25 ft. (Poor)
Ranged Cryo Core ray +10/+8 (1d6+3/x2 cold) (range 70')
Skills Disable Device +30, Jump +8, Search +25, Tumble +20

Readied Maneuvers
( )   Phantom Arrow

Suit-Forming
Energy pool 8
1/1   Space Jump (Back)
1/1   X-Ray Scope ()
1/4   Cryo Core (+2 capacity)
3/3   Infantry Teleportation (Utility, +1 capacity)
2/2   Rezbit Control (Helmet)

R2-DStroy
Init +1; Senses low-light vision, darvision 60 feet; Listen +0, Spot +0
Languages none; Wireless Communication
AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 14
hp 29/29 (1 HD); Fast healing 0
Immune mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromancy effects, critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, energy drain, effects requiring Fortitude saves that do not work on objects or are harmless, massive damage
Resist electricity 5
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +1
Speed 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 5 ft. (Perfect)
Melee Shock Blast +2 touch (1d6 electricity)
Skills Computer Use +14, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) +7, Knowledge (Local) +7, Knowledge (Nature) +7, Knowledge (All Others) +5, Martial Lore +5, Psicraft +5, Spellcraft +5

Rezbit Control Module 2/2
1/2   Energy Barrier
1/2   Enhanced Analysis
0/2   Rapid Repair
0/2   Shock Blast

[Amechra]

"I just so happened to come in. Marie, please get Autpek something to eat."

Sarai sighs, and turns to Marie,

"And can I also have that tea I asked for? If I have to ask again, I might get a little cross."

Sarai smiles, but it isn't a particularly pleasant smile this time.

[Kajhera]

Breakfast, one of those times that was more than a little annoying to Enna; she preferred to eat closer to sunset, and to not hang around those morsels getting some odd satisfaction from gruel, thank you very much. Still, it was best to stick close to her charge and benefactor, so ...

The ghoul paces near to the kitchen, holding a terrified chicken that she pets absently, claws raking through its feathers. She casts glances in, sniffing the air, taking in the busy and odd scents wafting from that place.

[Bozwevial]

Marie pales, scurrying off and returning quickly with tea for her mistress and a bowl of gruel for Autpek.

[Garryl]

His head buried in clockwork once more, Autpek fails to notice the gruel sitting next to him for a good long minute. When he finally looks up he mumbles, "Thanks Tim."

"Broodip bip whrrrrr."

"Really? When did that happen?"

"Bzit beep beep. Click wooeee."

"Oh, right. Sorry, thanks Marie."

[Nanshork]

Kyrish glances over at Enna.  In a somewhat derogatory tone he asks, "Are you going to eat that or are you adopting things again?"

[Kajhera]

"It is not filling, to eat a creature so much smaller than a man."

Her champagne-tinted, goggled gaze pauses to rest on Kyrish, and her claws lay more still in the feathers.

[Amechra]

"Thank you Marie. Now everyone, please play nice. Remember what happened last week with Tim... I distinctly remember it wasn't just Urglmek's fault..."

She takes a sip of the tea, and signals her enjoyment to Marie.

"Quite excellent, thank you."

[PhaedrusXY]

"Of course not. How was I supposed to know his overalls were so flammable?"

[Bozwevial]

Marie, who had drifted off into the kitchen, lets out a scream, which is shortly followed by the sound of shattering glass and then, almost as an afterthought, a quiet thump.

A DC 20 Listen check picks up some muffled shouting from outside.

[Nanshork]

Kyrish speaks up absentmindedly.  "Marie, if you start breaking things you might end up like Tim.  We wouldn't want that now would we?"

I have a =1 listen modifier and you can't crit on skill checks.  I fail.   

[PhaedrusXY]

I have a =1 listen modifier and you can't crit on skill checks.  I fail.   

I have a -1. But somehow still have Blindsense and Tremorsense. 

Urglmek immediately says "I didn't do it! I didn't do it! You saw, I was nowhere near her!" and then begins running towards the kitchen.

[Kajhera]

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2806726/ - Success, looks.

Enna quickly frees the chicken, letting it flutter to the ground, and strides swiftly to Sarai's side.

"They seem to be shouting about something outside. What happened to Marie?" Her gaze follows Urglmek, and claw rests on the handle of her morningstar. Though her tone is one of concern, she seems to be fighting a grin.