And the Quest Begins....

[OGRE MAGE]

Ok, because of the varied post rates of different players....for encounters like this we won't really abide by a "round-by-round" format. Please feel free to take any action or make a suggestion at any time. I will try to post them as they happen but, if you are a little late with a suggestion or action, don't let that stop you from jumping in with it. Combat will be the exception of course.

The crowd in front of you is being whipped into a frenzy by the fat cleric on the platform. You hear shouts of "pluck its feathers", "it's a demon", and "make it squawk Bernhardt"! You also hear (much to Thomas's delight) "Burn It! Let the fires make the clouds vanish". There is even one crazy man in the back hollering something about a duck.

Thomas, that one guy, and Xano begin grinding through the crowd but find their movement severely hampered by the throng of frenzied villagers all packed together in such a tight group. They get about a third of the way into the mass but realize they will need to get closer to initiate conversation in this chaos.

Halo runs forward and levitates (straight up) and can now see over the crowd. He has a much better view of the proceedings on the platform, (now 148' away) but finds that he still cannot be heard above the din. Some of the villagers in the back of the crowd do notice the floating Halfling however, and stop to stare up at him in amazement.

He now sees, tied to the pole, a scrawny man-like creature, now looking rather like a half-plucked chicken. Around it's clawed feet lies a mass of bright blue plumage and tears of agony run down it's hooked beak. There are three others up on the platform with Bernhardt. Two of them are dressed in similar red robes, and another man is there with a black hood, a huge sword, and rippling muscles.

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Shouting from the back of the crowd is futile due to the frenzy and noise. Pushing your way through the crowd is possible, but you realize that it will take a few rounds unless you intend to just trample the villagers in front of you.

Trying to run and then levitate is the same thing as simply standing in place and levitating. You have vertical movement only unless you have something to push yourself off of. (like a tree or a building) Levitation is not the same as flying.

[MonkeyWrench]

I think my earlier post had Thomas doing just that

Thomas will make his way through the crowd, forcibly. Any that do not move will be moved by him, I suppose Xano and the Monk can use his own path to get through as well.

When he gets within a good distance to be heard he will enact his previously stated words while ascending the platform.

I believe with a total strength of 20 this feat shouldn't be too hard to do...

[OGRE MAGE]

I don't mean to be the jackass already, BUT..... I feel I should warn you all that I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to alignment.

Even though Thomas is chaotic, he is still good. I don't think that a good character would go around dilebritly shoving strangers around and I certainly don't think that kind of behavior would be tolerated by the 2 Lawful Good players in the party either.

Being overzealous is fine with me but not at the risk of hurting others. Besides, do you really want a mob of 200 frantic commoners coming after you all? I must insist that you all play your alignment correctly. Thanks.

[OGRE MAGE]

It will only take an extra 2 rounds to get through the crowd in a slightly less aggressive manner. Just sayin

[MonkeyWrench]

hmm.... my intention for that action is overzealousness, he isn't going around shoving people and breaking shoulders or anything, he's moving the crowd, yelling to get out of the way as he shoves past them.

Personally I hate the idea of alignment, no one is ever all good or all evil, there's always a mix. But I'll retract my action and just have him move through the crowd normally I guess. I can't say I'll not cross the whole alignment border in the future since that action WAS was I thought chaotic good would do, he isn't actively hurting people, just getting them out of his way, but I will see what I can do about being more "good" I guess....

Sorry if that is too much of a pain...

[OGRE MAGE]

My bad!
I guess I assumed "forcibly removing" them meant you were shoving them to the ground violently. If you are just pushing through them, that's fine with me.

[MonkeyWrench]

Equally my bad Ogre, I should have worded it properly.

I will do my best to make sure my point is across from now on

[Dram]

Xano-Follows Thomas thru the crowd. Please let us thru we are emmissaries of the dukes. We are to aid in the trial.

Xano has a ring of blinking. At a 130' She will blink next to Brother Bernhardt.

Brother Bernhardt we are here on behalf of the duke. PLease let the rest of my party thru

[Scott308]

The monk will continue working his way through the crowd as best he can, taking care not to be too rough with anyone.

[Storm11]

Halo will pull out his sunsword and begin waving it around, activating it's sunray power, spreading light around him and expanding rapidly.

stop this! Stop this at once! You are behaving as evil as this creature! Get a hold of yourselves! We are hear to help end this storm! By order of the duke. Stop this please I say, you are better than this!

[OGRE MAGE]

Equally my bad Ogre, I should have worded it properly.

I will do my best to make sure my point is across from now on

Ya man! It's all good!

Everyone in the party is either neutral or good so, as long as the Paladin isn't slaughtering innocents, and you're not all running around like a bunch of common thugs, we should be alright.

[OGRE MAGE]

Xano-Follows Thomas thru the crowd. Please let us thru we are emmissaries of the dukes. We are to aid in the trial.

Xano has a ring of blinking. At a 130' She will blink next to Brother Bernhardt.

Brother Bernhardt we are here on behalf of the duke. PLease let the rest of my party thru

I dont think Blink works like that. It's not like teleportation, it's actually random where you blink to and it only moves you a little bit. Like a couple of feet.

I would say she could blink from the ground up onto the platform, but she would have to be right up by it first.

[OGRE MAGE]

While three of the party push their way through the crowd up to the riser, the Halfling Paladin of Pelor preaches his words from mid air. He starts swinging his massive sword around in the air and a bright light begins to emit from the blade. It grows brighter and larger as he speaks.

About a third of the crowd in the back notices the light and turn to look up at Halo. The noise up front is still too loud for him to be heard by Bernhardt, but the fat man obviously notices the light. He stops and squints as he bobs slightly back and forth looking out at the crowd. He then turns to the large hooded man on the platform and points out to the floating Halo.

The Magic-User and Druid also note the bright light coming from their right and stop to see what it is. As they do they can hear a frail voice coming from behind them.

Stop this madness! Someone must stop them before it's too late! Won't anyone champion this poor creature?

As they turn they notice an elderly man walking towards them walking heavily dependent on his staff.

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As the man catches up and sees the two spell casters from a little closer he says,

Good heavens! Is there no one here under the age of fifty?

Thomas, Xano, and Monk are nearly through the crowd and will be able to be heard and seen from the platform now as the crowd seems to have settled a bit, as most of them wonder what is going on behind them.

[Dram]

Okay your the DM. It was not the description i as when i got the ring. it is in the note sections of the character sheet. How do you want me to change the functionality of the ring?

[OGRE MAGE]

Dram

I can't speak for other DM's and I have no experience with editions later than 2E so if it's from something later than that I have no idea what it is.

Other than the first line in the description in your notes:

14th lvl Command Word->Freeale

The rest of the description is exactly as it is written in the book.

This is the discription of the Blink spell.

By means of this spell, the wizard causes his material form to “blink” directly from one point to another at a random time and in a random direction. This means that melee attacks against the wizard automatically miss if initiative indicates they fall after he has blinked.
Each round the spell is in effect, the wizard rolls 2d8 to determine the timing of the blink--the result of the dice roll is used as the wizard's initiative for that round. The wizard disappears and instantaneously reappears 10 feet distant from his previous position. (Direction is determined by a roll of 1d8: 1 = right ahead, 2 = right, 3 = right behind, 4 = behind, 5 = left behind, 6 = left, 7 = left ahead, 8 = ahead.) The caster cannot blink into a solid object; if such is indicated, reroll the direction. Movable objects of size and mass comparable to the caster are shoved aside when the caster blinks in. If blinking is impossible except into a fixed, solid object, the caster is then trapped on the Ethereal Plane.
During each round that he blinks, the spellcaster can be attacked only by opponents who win initiative or by those who are able to strike both locations at once (for example, with a breath weapon, fireball, or similar wide-area attack forms). Opponents with multiple attacks, or those operating under haste or similar effects, can often strike early enough to have at least one attack against the caster.
If the spellcaster holds off his attack (if any) until after the blink, the 2d8 delay until the blink is added to his normal 1d10 initiative roll (thus, he probably attacks last in the round). The spellcaster can also try to get his attack in before he blinks (he must announce his intent before rolling the 2d8 for blink timing and the 1d10 for initiative). In this case, the caster compares the two dice rolls, hoping that his initiative roll is lower than his blink roll (the two rolls are not added if he is trying to attack before he blinks). If so, he attacks according to his initiative roll, then blinks according to the blink roll. If his blink roll is lower than his initiative roll, however, he blinks first and then attacks in whatever direction he's facing (he must go through with his attack, even if he is facing in the wrong direction to affect anyone).

Perhaps we can work out a compromise in between this and what you were thinking?

[Scott308]

As the monk gets within 20'-25' of the platform, he will leap onto the stage. When he gets on the stage, he will turn to the person plucking feathers from the captive and state, Hold, good sir. What has this creature done to deserve such torment? Surely, Brother Bernhardt, as a man of God you cannot condone the torture of a living being? We come as envoys from the Duke, and would have a word with you, please, Brother.

[OGRE MAGE]

The top of the platform is small and was crowded already. Now with Monk up there it's packed. Bernhardt drops the tongs and turns to the Monk screaming...

What? I don't care who you are! What in the hells do you think you're doing? You can't be up here! Get down off of this sacred platform immediately you heathen!

You see the other two red robed figures reach into their belt pouches but do nothing else that appears threatening at the moment. Bernhardt motions to the large, muscular man with the black hood and he steps forward with his arms folded.

You gonna jump back down or am I gonna have to throw you off? Totally up to you.

Bernhardt smells bad and his breath is even worse. He has a long greasy black beard and his stare is maniacal. He seems to be VERY serious about you getting off the platform but, perhaps he may be willing to parlay if you were back on the ground?

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The crowd has been silenced somewhat by the intrusion and now wait to see what is going to happen next.

You also get a little better look at the creature tied to the post.

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[Scott308]

I will not back away, leaving this poor creature alone and defenseless. I would strongly suggest you have your men stand down. We are here on official business for the Duke, and you run the risk of incurring his wrath if you interfere with us. I will ask again, what is this creature accused of and why does that give you the right to torture a sentient being? We have no quarrel with you as yet but I cannot and will not allow this torture to continue.

The monk will keep a wary eye on the other people on the platform, ready to defend himself if someone makes an aggressive move. Being unarmed, the monk already has his best weapons readied.

[Nuke66]

Morgi silently observes all of the commotion. "Bulls in a china shop" he thinks. He carefully begins to move toward the birdman, but not up onto the platform. He stands by, not yet offering his solution to the problem.

[Hotgoblin]

Wyntar

Will turn around to address the old man.
Speak up old man! What do you know of these proceedings?

If he has his own picture, he must be important right?