D&D Beginner's Game: Act 1, Scene 2(d): Times of Prayer

The Dungeon Master

Brutha appears the other side of the portal at the end of a winding passageway. The walls are made of marble, with effigies of various deities from across the globe.

Om, is present on Brutha's right hand side, about four effigies down from his current position.

The passageway leads east, and winds around a bend.

jasonb

Brutus takes a breath. He is heartened to see the Great God Om in his familiar Tortoise form on the wall. He takes a moment to thank the Great God Om for his life being spared, and having missed the chance to do so earlier, he goes through his usual morning ritual of prayer. The he looks up and prepares himself to move on, Mace in hand and keeping an eye out for any traps.

The Dungeon Master

jasonb wrote: »

Brutus takes a breath. He is heartened to see the Great God Om in his familiar Tortoise form on the wall. He takes a moment to thank the Great God Om for his life being spared, and having missed the chance to do so earlier, he goes through his usual morning ritual of prayer. The he looks up and prepares himself to move on, Mace in hand and keeping an eye out for any traps.

Brutha, being mindful spots a miniscule sized tripwire running across the room between the images of two of the deities. He can avoid it rather easily, knowing its location now.

jasonb

Brutha carefully steps over the tripwire, ensuring he doesn't set off another trap by avoiding this one. He also carefully looks at where the tripwire joins the walls, and looks at the varuous deities on the walls as he slowly makes his way down the corridor. "All these false gods that the foolish people believe in" he thinks to himself, content in the knowledge that the Great God Om is the one true god and will protect him. That said, he knows that the Great God Om doesn't suffer fools (for it is written in the Second Book of the Septateuch) so he takes his time and trusts his eyes and his mace as well as his God...

The Dungeon Master

The passageway turns east, widening into a short hall. A few torches provide a miserly light. Several cells line the wall.

jasonb

Once again checking for traps, Brutha sees if he can take a torch off the wall, to help him shine Great God Om's light. Then, without getting too close to the bars, he checks out each cell to see if they're occupied.

The Dungeon Master

jasonb wrote: »

Once again checking for traps, Brutha sees if he can take a torch off the wall, to help him shine Great God Om's light. Then, without getting too close to the bars, he checks out each cell to see if they're occupied.

The torch comes off the wall easy enough.

3 of the cells hold corpses that are slumped facedown on their bunks.

In the fourth, a haggard, filthy man is curled up in the corner. He appears to be sleeping, or at least has not noticed Brutha yet.

jasonb

Brutha says a quiet prayer for the souls of the dead prisoners, and then softly calls out to the man in the final cell. “Hello, can you hear me? How did you end up here?”

Necro

jasonb wrote: »

Brutha says a quiet prayer for the souls of the dead prisoners, and then softly calls out to the man in the final cell. “Hello, can you hear me? How did you end up here?”

The man jumps up in shock.

'Who said that? Petunia, that you again... I told you, I shouldn't do that...'

He turns around and spots Brutha.

'Where in the name of the mighty Kankalot did you come from?'

He calms down a little and smiles - most of his teeth are missing or rotted.

'Good grief, let me out of this cell immediately! The master will come back... and he gets angry...'

jasonb

"Who is the Master? And please answer me, why are you in the cell?"

The Dungeon Master

jasonb wrote: »

"Who is the Master? And please answer me, why are you in the cell?"

The man steps forward, lurching a little bit to the side.

'The Master does nasty things... I dare not speaketh his name!

I am here because I was foolish. My poor dear Petunia, I cannot even reach her anymore?'

He looks pleadingly at Brutha.

'You... You! Are you a God loving man? Please, free me so I can be with my Petunia!'

jasonb

Brutha tells the man to move to the back of the cell. Once he’s away from the door Brutha quickly looks around to make sure no-one is nearby, and then looks at the cell door to see if it’s locked, if there are any traps on it, and if there’s a way of opening it.

The Dungeon Master

No traps Brutha can see.

In fact, the cell door appears to be unlocked.

jasonb

Brutha steps back and ensures the man sees him readying his Mace. “This door is not locked and you can leave anytime you like, no-one is stopping you.”

The Dungeon Master

The man falters.

'Child of Om, surely you see I am of no threat to you? My lovely Petunia... I must reach her. She has not known pleasure in three days.

Open the door for an old man, please?'

jasonb

“I know not if you are a threat or not, but I can see that the door is unlocked and you can open it yourself. If you want to leave, I’d advise you to do so now. If you continue to delay me on my journey, I will ensure that you cannot sneak up behind me, as I cannot take the chance that you might mean me harm”

The Dungeon Master

The man becomes irate.

'Surely an Om worshipper such as you can spare the time to open the cell door for me? It is a meager request. Petunia is waiting, I can feel her need, she has waited so long...'

He takes a step towards the cell door.

jasonb

“The Great God Om’s teachings tell me to help you old man, and my eyes tell me all is not what it seems here. Stand back!” Brutha puts the torch up against the cell door, pushing it between the bars a little until it’s slightly wedged, and then pulls it back to pull the door open with it.

The Dungeon Master

The man rushes out of the cell and laughs at Bruthur.

'You fell for the act - they ALL do - and they all become my toys!'

His eyes glow a deep red:



He takes a dagger concealed within his rags.

'The Master will be pleased, our First Om worshipper.

Now you shall be tested, cleric of Om - Is your faith strong enough?

Or will you die like all of the rest?'

He chants some unintelligible words, although Brutha can sense the pure evil of them - blood magic.

The ragged man drives the dagger into his own heart, collapses and dies.


At the same time - the other three cells fly open and the three corpses within animate.

The zombies rush Brutha:



OOC: Please join me in the rolz room... Initiative time

jasonb

OOC: Zombies, why did it have to be Zombies... Let me know what you need me to roll. And does the Holy Water help here at all?

The Dungeon Master

jasonb wrote: »

OOC: Zombies, why did it have to be Zombies... Let me know what you need me to roll. And does the Holy Water help here at all?

OOC: It'll be a d20 to start, to see who goes first... Holy Water might help, there's also your cleric ability...

The Dungeon Master

OOC: The Meatgrinder

Above room if you're having trouble finding it

The Dungeon Master

Brutha rips his holy symbol from his pack and calls on Om to protect him.

Unfortunately, the zombies overpower him. One swipes wildly and misses, but the other two connect and pin him to the ground.

As they close in for the kill, Brutha has one final chance to save himself.....

The Dungeon Master

The third zombie, turns at the last moment and is distracted by the scent of blood from the dead man on the floor.

He lumbers over and begins feasting on the man's corpse, tearing him open.

Both zombies holding Brutha now react to the smell of the man's innards as they are ripped apart.

They release the cleric and join in on the feast.

They will entirely consume the man within 2 minutes.

jasonb

Gathering his wits, and all of his possesions, Brutha gets the hell out of there...

OOC: Thanks for the let-off DM...

The Dungeon Master

There are two exits:

Back through the door he entered to the west, or a door to east. The east door involves running past the zombies however.

jasonb

While the Zombies are still feasting Brutha realises there's no point going back the way he came, it's a dead end. Taking as wide a berth as possible, he runs past the Zombies to the East door, trying to keep an eye out for traps as he does so...

The Dungeon Master

Two of the zombies notice Brutha running past them towards the door. They begin to get up as Brutha reaches the door.

OOC: You can make it through the door before they reach you, but checking for traps or other actions will cause them to reach you.

jasonb

Brutha decides the danger he can see overrides the possible danger he can't see, and goes through the door before the Zombies reach him

The Dungeon Master

Brutha slips inside the door without any difficulties. He closes it and turns around to see two familiar faces come tumbling out of a portal....

The Dungeon Master

Stufur and Webby crash land on the floor. A sunburnt hand lands on Stufur's lap as the portal vanishes.

Fourier

Stufur jumps with fright at the hand.

"By the stars...I don't want to go back there!

Cleric of Om, you have made it this far, I'm glad. What madness do they have planned for us now I wonder?"

jasonb

“Good to see some friendly faces, I barely escaped with my life from three foul Zombies back there. I’m not sure what to do now, your way has closed behind you and the undead are behind me”

Nebelwerfer

Webby gets up and looks onto Brutha, relieved at the sight of another familiar face, "Ah, some fortune is upon us at last! We have a healer among us now."

He scuttles towards Brutha, pulling at his sleeves and pointing towards the sunburnt hand "Can you make sure it has no more pulse? There was something not quite right with that man".

Webby checks his pockets and bags to make sure everything is still here.

The Dungeon Master

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

Webby checks his pockets and bags to make sure everything is still here.

Webby has all his items still equipped.

The hand however... is starting to regrow an arm from it.

Nebelwerfer

Webby, startled by the sudden onset of growth to the hand, pulls out an arrow and starts vigorously poking it.

"Guys, seriously... something is not right with this hand... Brutha, any chance on some purification here?"

Webby grabs a second arrow and lifts the hand, clamping it in between the arrow heads, before lopping it over into Brutha's direction in an attempt to draw his attention.

"Ignore the halfling, half the size, half the mind..." he mutters as he looks onto Stufur and Brutha.

The Dungeon Master

Both Webby and Stufur interacting with the hand increase the rate of reformation.

The cloaked, sunburned figure reforms and stands in the centre of the trio, with the same vacant stare Stufur and Webby witnessed before.

jasonb

Brutha takes out his Holy Symbol and Holy Water, sprinking some on the growing arm, while calling on the Great God Om to end this unholy behaviour.

The Dungeon Master

The sunburned figure on being hit by the Holy Water from Om vanishes from sight with a final line.

This thing must be destroyed, it must not be set free.

Nebelwerfer

"Brutha, you mentioned zombies?"

Webby remembers the non-responsiveness of the sunburned figure earlier and how he seemed to pose no immediate threat.

"Time seems to warp around the sunburned man, perhaps we should utilize this as a defense" he says as he scans his environment. "Stufur wrapped a rope around his legs before we jumped through the portal and it turned to dust".

Webby cautiously approaches the sunburnt man, pulling at his sleeves in an effort to move him.

Fourier

Stufur is flummoxed by the nature of the figure.

"An ominous being I think, lucky you were here Cleric, shall we press on?"

Nebelwerfer

"I dont think thats the last we have seen of him yet..." Webby shrugs, faces the cleric and asks "Before we move on, did you not mention Zombies earlier?"

jasonb

"Yes, three of them that I just escaped from with my life, I fear we may have to face them again".

OOC: I'm unsure of the layout, but unless there's another exit from where we are, with the portal they just came through closing, I assume that we have to go back to where I came from?

Nebelwerfer

Webby anxiously looks around, trying to get a lay of the land. He looks onto Stufur and Brutha and recognizes the same vacant stare as he only witnessed moments ago before the sunburnt man vanished.

Webby remains puzzled by the continuing passage of time and wonders if perhaps the disappearance of the man may have affected the party somehow.

The Dungeon Master

OOC: Yes, fairly small room, guys portalled in from east wall. Portal closed again.

Nebelwerfer

Pleasantly surprised by Brutha's response, Webby convinces himself that the vacant stare from his team members is in his head and probably just a remnant stress leftover from witnessing the sunburnt man's disspearance earlier.

Webby snaps out his deep thoughts and responds to Brutha, "YES! I fear the same I'm afraid, probably best to prepare for the worst... at least this time we know whats coming, right?"

He walks up closer to Brutha, who is now towering over Webby and quietly asks "Anything in that toolbag of yours which would turn undead? All I have are these 4 arrows". He says as he grabs the arrows and points towards his shortbow.

The Dungeon Master

A loud banging is heard at the door Brutha came through. It appears something is trying to break through.

Nebelwerfer

Webby points at the door "I think someone is looking to get in".

Webby looks up to see if he can catch his grappling hook on anything so he can lift himself off the ground.

jasonb

"My attempts to turn them failed the last time, though it is possible it might work if I try again. It's also possible that an arrow in the head could take care of them too. It sounds like they're trying to break through, I suggest we move back from the door a little and give ourselves as much room as possible".

OOC: Can we see through the door (i.e. bars, windows etc.) or not? If we can, can we fire arrows through the door, or try a Turn Undead before the door opens?

The Dungeon Master

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

Webby points at the door "I think someone is looking to get in".

Webby looks up to see if he can catch his grappling hook on anything so he can lift himself off the ground.

Nothing that the grappling hook can hook into.

jasonb wrote: »

OOC: Can we see through the door (i.e. bars, windows etc.) or not? If we can, can we fire arrows through the door, or try a Turn Undead before the door opens?

OOC: You can't see through the door, but you would know instinctively what is behind it. You can attempt a turn, yes.
2d6 on rollz, Target 7.

Fourier

"I think Cleric we will rely on your ability first, before we resort to a direct attack."