Kelewen

Tower of the Black Pearl

The noxious cloud of gas caught Tamra's attacker full in the face, burning his eyes, nose, mouth and lungs. He swung the sword desperately in a wide arc above her, but his eyes were scrunched tightly shut against the burning gas and he took a step backwards in an effort to escape it. In doing so, he lost his bearings slightly and backed right over the open trapdoor, falling down just as Takao had done, and landing with an "ooooph" just as Takao was "watering" the corner of the chamber.

Charlie's adversary only managed to slow himself slightly before his shoulder collided with the hard stone of the battlements and he grunted in pain. However, he did not seem deterred and turned quick enough, lunging himself at the monk, attempting to get an arm around the man before he could turn back around with his quarterstaff.

The third danced backward as Arnold parried his blade with his gauntlet, barely avoiding the cleric's blow, but also failing to realize that he was backing right toward Ronan.

Tower of the Black Pearl

Thanks for the good posts so far, folks! I realized I failed to put 'Rules of Battle' in the intro post, so figured I'd better do it now that we're headed for combat. ;)

Defender decides the outcome of an attack.

That one rule sums it up pretty well, I think. This goes for PCs and NPCs, as well as for traps. So if another character aims a strike at yours, you get to decide if it injures your character. (It makes the story all the more dramatic if the heroes emerge at the end a little worse for wear. )

Edit: The only exception would be if the story is waiting on your reply for multiple days. If it's holding up the game, I may step in and resolve the attack outcome.

Tower of the Black Pearl

A whiff of alcohol reaches the noses of Tamra, Charlie, and Arnold as the three rag-tag men step forward to meet the challengers, the spirits perhaps impairing their judgement on the wisdom of a battle.

"Send these festerin scally wags to swim with the fishes, lads!" The words weren't even all the way out of his mouth when one that had woken first lunged past the trap door and straight toward Tamra, attempting to close the distance before she could work whatever magic she was conjuring, sword swinging wildly.

Meanwhile, the one on the left, a large brute with a mangy beard and balding head, barreled toward Charlie, shoulder first, simply attempting to knock him back over the battlement and into the sea.

The third, a gaunt man who looked like he'd missed more than a few meals, but surprisingly quick on his feet, sprung at Arnold, thrusting his blade toward the cleric's mace hand.

Tower of the Black Pearl

Takao's fall takes him down about 15', alongside an iron ladder into a brightly lit room. Hundreds of candles line the walls, their flames swaying and dancing. Some are tall, as if they were lit just moments ago, while others are burnt down to stubby mounds of wax.

In the center of the room stands an onyx pedestal supporting a massive tome bound in gold and worn black scales.

The walls are decorated with detailed murals depicting what must be the lives of heroes: warriors rising up from humble beginnings to lead armies against forces of darkness; humble apprentices inheriting arcane powers from their masters, casting down kings and emperors with a wave of their wands; meek rouges growing to become daring shadow lords; and destitute warrior monks rising to become leaders of holy armies.

Meanwhile, on the roof of the tower, the sounds of commotion rouses one of the men near the keg awake and he blinked in surprise. "Hey!" he yelled, collecting his wits as he kicked his two companions awake. They fumbled for their blades while the one to wake first took a threatening step toward Arnold, shifty eyes sizing up the cleric. "We was here first," he stated, as if that simple fact solidified their claim to the tower. "Get back in yer boat."

Tower of the Black Pearl

Takao retied his pouch of peanuts, slinging it beside his waist, then putting his sword beside his back. He looked around, and nothing seemed off, other than the nearby ship that he saw earlier. He disembarked the ship, knowing that he has one of the highest HP as a warrior amongst the people in the ship, so he would be able to tank any possible surprise attacks. He made sure that he is within the others' visual range. "So, should we head to that ship or just continue with that Tower as planned? o.o " Takao asked while climbing up the barnacles. And also, this tower is quite a fascinating one ~~

@Noodles

Takao did not have to climb far before he could see over the tower's battlements (as most of the tower was still beneath the water). The moonlight clearly illuminated three human forms sprawled near a keg. Swords lay within easy reach of their hands. but their eyes were closed and the closest one snored.

In the middle of the floor is an iron trapdoor, inscribed with a large glyph... the mark of Sezrekan.

Tower of the Black Pearl

@Ramzam Welcome!

We've got a nice size party for this adventure, so I'm going to close it to further new characters for now.

@AwesomeZero5, you are still welcome if you're interested. :)

@Kelewen

Just to clarify, Ramzam, your character is good to go. After re-reading my post, I wasn't sure if that was clear enough. :)

Tower of the Black Pearl

@Ramzam Welcome!

We've got a nice size party for this adventure, so I'm going to close it to further new characters for now.

@AwesomeZero5, you are still welcome if you're interested. :)

Tower of the Black Pearl

Hollis put his back into the oars and soon their little skiff drew close to Sezrekan's Tower. Just enough of the stucture rose above the water to make it impossible to see the top of the tower from their current position, but the various barnacles encrusting the stone would make climbing up a relatively easy task...

The fisherman let the boat drift the last little way, then maneuvered it expertly until it was bobbing gently right up against the tower. "Iffn ya don't mind, I'll keep watch on the boat," he said quietly, and a bit nervously, with a sideways glance at the other boat. "I won't drift far, in case there's trouble..."

Tower of the Black Pearl

Just a heads up, starting tomorrow, I'm going to be in the middle of the woods for about 4 days, and I won't have internet. I want to stay with this, though. I'll try to post something today.

@Karl Kadaver

Thanks for the heads up. :)

Tower of the Black Pearl

Satyr would be acceptable.