Kintobor

Karie face turns red as she looks a little embarrassed. "Well... um... sorry, I guess. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, ya know?"

"Right. Coming, gramps!" Karie heals Sorrow with a Grand Potion.

"I can, but then someone's gotta deal with Heckz. Our glorious party leader ain't looking to good."

"Heckz, put out that fire, you're going to *cough* cause us to be smoked out!" Karie moves in front of the school students to shield them from the fire, looking a little foolish in her dress. "Just stay behind me and you kids should be fine!" Karie heals Heckz from the back row.

OOC: Sorry, the red is numbers that don't add up.

Thanks for hearing us out Sandy. Don't worry, I'm still having fun! On a side note, anyone outside of 94 can solve the door puzzle. Just send me a PM with the answer.

Althior places the tokens in the plate. However, the door remains locked. A few of the tokens light up. Seems something doesn't add up with these three... 2 6 7 4 8 3 9 1 5 "It's weird that those particular numbers form a diagonal line. What are you onto Althior?"

Althior puts the 3 in the middle right spot. "...Well... did it work?" 2 _ _ _ _ 3 _ 1 _ OOC: I guess I'll colour code some things. Blue are numbers placed down. Black are stuck in place. Once you've placed all of them, I'll give you more info.

It's my job to overanalyze stuff. Check the TMNT 2012 thread and the Cartoons thread and fish around for my analyze of both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It must be the brony side of me coming out, that fandom has an obsession of picking out the nitty gritty in every episode. I'll agree on the points about the romance not being the central focus of the plot, I did enjoy that, as well as other bits of it (the market and sauna scene come to mind, but I don't see where this fountain of love for this movie sprouted from. They sort of made fun of themselves in "Enchanted", but that's another can of worms. Thanks for sharing your opinion!

Frozen This movie didn't live up to the hype that everyone was saying, and that on its own, it's just an okay movie. We got two sisters, one of which becomes the Ice Queen, named Elsa, and the other who's name I can't honestly remember, so I'm calling her Rapunzel 2.0. So, Rapunzel 2.0 has to bring her siste r back to the kingdom after she runs away at her coronation as queen of the land right after she refuses to bless Rapunzel 2.0 and Prince Hans wedding, which the two decided to have after knowing each other for a day. So Rapunzel 2.0runs into some quirky friends, an ice hauler named Christof, a moose named Sven, and eventually a snowman named Olaf, who looks a lot like the one her sister use to make with her before her parents put Elsa into hiding in her room. Eventually it's revealed that Prince Hans was only using Rapunzel 2.0 to take control of the kingdom, and stuff happens and... ugh. I've seen all these plots before. Beauty and the Beast did the stereotypically hero turning into the villain, and did it better, the sisterly love theme was done first in Lilo and Stitch, and done better, Mulan has the whole feminism thing down pat. I just felt as if this film had no idea what it was trying to be. It was juggling all these different ideas so much that it got really muddled in it's own morals. I'm going to complain about Hans here for a moment, because Hans's reveal as the villain not only came as unexpected, but right out of left field. There was no point where I felt he was seen in a negative light as a jerk. Gaston from Beauty and the Beast was a jerk, and obviously the villain of that film. Hans's sudden betrayal of Rapunzel 2.0 was so contrived and forced that I really didn't see it coming because he was too nice! In fact, who cares if he wound up killing Elsa and Rapunzel 2.0, from what we saw, he was helping the citizens of the kingdom, he was friendly to his subjects, and most of the time he was acting like a gentleman, so if Rapunzel 2.0 and Elsa died, who's to say the kingdom wouldn't be in good hands? Also, was any of the male leads really necessary to the plot? Or the trolls? The trolls in particular seemed to be shoehorned in, with an even more shoehorned in love song. I would've been totally fine with the story being about just being about Elsa and Rapunzel 2.0, in fact, it probably would've helped, since the movie is filled with so much filler and songs. The songs really got to me as to just how many of them there were. There was no time for the characters to just be characters because there was always another musical number right on top of them. There were times when I literally said "can we please move on with the story and stop singing?" I guess I'll touch on the musical numbers. They didn't do it for me. "Let it Go" was okay at best, Olaf's song had a few clever moments, but I didn't like Olaf all that much to begin with so maybe that's why. The only two songs I really honestly liked was the opening song sung by the ice haulers and "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" It was those first few atmospheric minutes I wish the rest of the film was like. Now, some of you may be wondering why I called our female lead Rapunzel 2.0. Well, I feel as if all this new princess is is a clone of Rapunzel from Tangled, which is a film I thoroughly adored. I was hoping we'd get a thoroughly thought out new princess character, but instead we got a Rapunzel clone. I really enjoyed Rapunzel's adorkableness and all around naivety, but with the new princess, Anna (I went and googled the cast list) just feels like Rapunzel copy and pasted onto a new mold. I guess both had similar upbringings being locked in their respective castles, but when both characters are the exact same, I get a little annoyed. Bottom line, Frozen has its moments, but I wouldn't pay the twelve bucks for a ticket at the theatre. I generally either recommend a movie, or tell you to pass it. For the first time, I'm going to say wait until it goes on sale for a discounted price, or Netflix streams it. Do I want to build a snowman? No thanks, I'd rather build a spaceship. Now excuse me while I await the angry mob.

...Touche. I still think that mechanically it was cheap. If all those books were there, it should have been noted that Saga could summon more books.

At least the party knows that at a certain point the boss's strategy is going to change. Endgame Syndrome likes to kick in once the boss is at half health, so at least there the party knows somethings going to happen. Like a tree knocking out the opponent. With a witch present. I'm fine with enemies joining combat, so long as it's warranted. You need to establish the enemies are already out there, so when the party fights off the main baddy and his guards rush in, it's less of a cop out and more of a clever turn of events. Just revealing a passive special out of the blue seems deceiving, and sort of dishonest. As a QM, the players need to be able to trust you. I sort of don't want to use any of my cool items in 93 now knowing that Sandy could drop a passive special at any moment and negate our progress. It's almost one of the basic rules of QMing, the players need to trust you.

I'm going to have to agree with Endgame here. There's a difference between letting the party know something is coming up that they can prepare for (like Endgame Syndrome), and just dropping a passive special on a party. Particularly since we just wasted a rare, expensive item in the hopes it would help us, not set us back in a later battle. I'm less mad and more irritated, particularly since you're generally really good at avoiding such mistakes. It just felt cheap.

"I'm never reading a single book ever again. I got Sorcha. And what did I say about keeping the students back and out of the action, Heckz!" Karie revives Sorcha with a Phoenix Essence.

"Seems to be." Violet fishes through the tokens, looking at each one for a few seconds. "There's seven slots and seven tokens, and they're numbered three through nine. It seems the location of the one and the two are both already picked for us. I'd bet there's a connection between the placement of the one and the two and the rest of the tokens we've found."

I agree with Brickdoctor. It's generally just bad form and rude. Imagine if an NPC went into your pockets and shovelled out all your coins, or if in real life someone did that to you. That said, the reason I'd give an NPC gold is if the party wants to stock the character up on items, and the opportunity is available. It's nice if the NPC can use they're own coin instead of the party's. Although, if there is none, I generally don't include a gold count.

OOC: Fixed!

"Well okay then. If you're going to toss it, I've got the Red Book. Keep the Noel and Sorsha back! We need them alive. As well, all our spell casters, stay back! Put Sorrow first so we can reap the rewards of ruining those books and not risk draining our ether users." Karie strikes the Red Book.

Throlar approaches the plate, and examines it. Trying to push on the doors, he discovers the doors are locked, and that the plate must be the thing keeping the doors shut. However, the lock was anything but simple. On the metal plate were seven sections cut out, with each section being the same size. Where two of the holes should have been, the numbers one and two were carved in. 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 _ The party has but one last obstacle before they can enter the Inner Sanctum, a set of wooden doors. Locking it is a metal plate with seven sections carved into it. The diagram above shows the location of the holes, identified by a "_", as well as the location of the "One" and the "Two". There doesn't seem to be any clues around the area as to what the plate is, or what the correlation of the 1 and the 2 are, or what goes in the seven holes. "It's a puzzle? I was hoping for something more... exciting. Like maybe the door would be an enemy or something..." The Party Eric (Khorne) 30 year old Human Nord Level 23 Raider *Natural Respite* *Immune to Fragile* *Evasion* *Counterstrike* Power: 45 (22+23) Defense: 5 Health: 41/41 (8+22+7+4) Gold: 94 Equipment: Godricsleif (WP: 22; Ice-, Lightning-, Darkness-elemental), Counterstrike Gloves (after the wearer is struck by a Free Hit, they counter with strength equal to their level), Boots of Evasion (Wearer takes half damage in front row), Heavy Armor (SP:5, protects from fragile-effect) Inventory: Drengazuli Grom'az (WP:6; Twin Axe: Attacks two enemies in one turn); Crocodile Belt (Max. health +2, immunity to water; accessory); 2x Diseased Silverfish Wings (WP:8 + Cursed throwing dagger); 6x Silverfish Wings (WP:8 throwing dagger); Fire bomb; Lightning bomb; Venom; Grand Potion (11x); Remedy (3x); Mead (7x); Smelling Salts (5x); Nostrum (5x); Mulled Wine (3x); Garnet; Scroll of Sleep, Neutralizer, Murky Pearl (Worth 25 gold) Avalanche, the Super Sleuth (Dragonfire) 29 years old male yeti Barbarian *Natural Respite* *Immune to Fragile* *Counterstriking* Level 13 Power: 20 (13+7) Health: 21/21 (13+7+1*) SP: 5 Gold: 120 Equipment: Trollsbane (club, WP:7, earth-elemental), Heavy Armour (immune to fragile, SP:5), Counterstrike Gloves (after the wearer is struck by a Free Hit, they counter with strength equal to the damage taken) Inventory: 5x Potion, Grand Potion, 1x Smelling Salts, Nostrum, Mulled Wine, Smoke Bomb, 5x Venom, 2x Phoenix Incense, Pumpkin Bomb (causes the stunned-, blinded-, poisoned by 1-, asleep-, sealed- and confused- effects to all opponents), Lightning Bomb, Dirt Bomb, Holy Bomb, 8x Bone, Skeleton Decoy, Bumble Fanshirt (SP:1, vermin with less than half of the wearer's level are scared and won't directly attack the wearer, bodywear), Hint Coin (Gives the user a hint about a puzzle or tricky situation. Usable only once. Has no monetary value.), Murky Pearl (Worth 25 gold) (*One Chicken Drumstick eaten) Althior Emorith (And Finnegan) *Party Leader* Level 38 1/4 Necromancer *Earns triple XP* Power: 50 (56 for spells) Power Bonus: +5 Spells Defense: 6 4+2 Health: 27/48 5+5+Chicken Drumstick (1)+33 Ether: 49/57 5+5+32+4+Ectoplasm (2) Gold: 300 Equipment: Scepter of Divine Affinity (WP:12, Has ⅙ chance to deal Cursed effect on attacks and ⅙ chance to deal Blessed effect on successful healing, Staff), Spellbound Gloves (+5 power when casting Spells, doubled if target is weak to Element, Handwear), Ethereal Cloak (SP:2, Max Ether +4, Backwear), Medal of Glory (Wearer earns triple experience, Accessory), Robe of the Elven Necromancer (SP: 4, Body Wear) Inventory: Consumables: Skeleton Decoy, Potion x5, Tonic x11, Grand Potion, Grand Tonic x4, Ether Core x2, Remedy x9, Mead, Smelling Salts, Elixirs x3, Phoenix Incense x2, Garnet Lamp of Summoning, Emergency Essence, Grating Stone x2, Deadly Poison Weapons: Dragoro (WP:8, Wand), Skull Shield (SP: 6, immune to darkness elemental damage), Oculoid Claw (WP: 13, Club, 1/6 chance of infecting the targeted enemy on successful hits.) Tools: Bedroll, Bone x3, Holy Water (Quest Item) Artifacts: The Rat Queen's Cape (Backwear, all Vermin type are Enamored with the wearer for the first three rounds of combat, Suitable for Alchemists, Beast Warriors, Chi Monks, and Witches), Black Knight's Armour (SP:4, protects from the stunned effect, suitable for black knights), Numbered Tokens (Quest Item) Gemstones: Diamond (Light), Topaz (Lightning), Amethyst (Darkness), Ruby (Fire), Sapphire (Wind), Garnet (Earth), Opal (Ice), Aquamarine (Water), Emerald (Wood) Throlar Wineghilm (Controlled by K-Nut) 134 year old male Dwarven Knight Level: 10.5 Power: 22 Health: 7/19 Gold: 423 Equipped: Mopagsaber (WP 12, ice elemental, longsword), Poncanis Shield (SP 5). Inventory: Remedy, Mace and Chain (Mace, WP 3), Elven Sword (WP 5, longsword) Bedroll, Round Shield (SP 2), Smoke Bomb, Mulled Wine, Phoenix Essence, Potion, Hint Coin (Gives the user a hint about a puzzle or tricky situation. Usable only once. Has no monetary value.) Crow Helmet (SP: 1, flying enemies do not deal free hits to the wearer, suitable for knights and Dragoons), Murky Pearl (Worth 25 gold) "..." Zombie Paladin Axeman A Level 18 Undead ".." Zombie Paladin Skirmisher A Level 18 Undead ".." Zombie Paladin Spearman A Level 18 Undead "..." Zombie Paladin Swordsman A Level 15 Undead "..." Zombie Paladin Swordsman B Level 15 Undead "I don't got the patience for these brain teasers. Although, I hear brains are pretty tasty..." Violet Level 16 Gravedigger *Immune to Sudden Death* HP: 26/26 SP: 2 Equipment: Wooden Shovel (WP: 4 damages undead), Torn White Dress (SP: 2, bodywear, suitable for engaged undead females), Rotting Flesh (provides immunity from sudden death)

Since that whole ordeal is over, me, Heckz and Noel got stuck in the "Wizard of Oz". The Tinman cut Dorothy's head open with his axe after we convinced her to let Drucilla, who was the Witch of the West, go, and after that the Cowardly Lion ate Toto. Then we managed to use Circle of Mages to blast our way out of there. I don't think I'll be able to watch the 1939 version the same way ever again without being reminded of Dorothy Gale getting her head split in two by one of her friends. It seems everyone else's went... swimmingly.

Karie gets up quickly, and brushes Noel off. "Thank the gods your okay! I was worried we wouldn't get out of that hellish nightmare!" She turns to Heckz, and nods at him. It seemed that the four of them came out alright, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't shake the image of the young girl getting her head split in two. She tried to hold back the bile as best she could. She looks for Hawke, only to see his still body on the floor. "Hawke? Hawke..." It didn't take long for her to realize Hawke was no longer with them. In one swift motion she lurches for a table and her lunch spills across the floor. She began to feel light headed as she patted herself down, panting in a sickly fashion. She hastily took out an item from her pocket and griped it in her hands. "Guys. Get back. I'm tossing a Pumpkin Bomb." From the back row. "No, everyone is not alright! Hawke is dead! And so are two of the students! We found Drucilla, she's fine at least. We almost got murdered by a lynch mob. Look, I just saw a teenage girl get her head cracked open by an automaton with an axe. Then a lion ate her dog. I'm not really feeling that well..."

"Well, Althior, you're party leader, so you lead the way." Althior leads his party back up to the antechamber and into the unexplored room. Like in many of the other rooms, coffins line the inside of the walls, however, large wooden doors block off an area at the back of the room. The only source of light besides the party's torches is two candles lit next to the door, both emitting the same blue glow as the ones downstairs. A strange, metallic looking square protrudes out of the wooden door. "How much do you guys want to bet that the inner sanctum's behind these doors? Someone going to do the honours and kick the door in? I heard from Thomas Jefferson that you guys like to kick the doors in at the hall when you enter. I guess it'd be pretty busted, right?"

Incredibles 2 has me optimistic at best. I really loved the first one, and I only hope that they manage to make a film that is as equally enjoyable as the first. Cars 3 though... the first one I just really didn't like. I thought McQueen was an unlikeable jerk, and that's were the film killed it for me. Even after his apparent reform, I still couldn't shake off his previous acts. He was an unlikeable character, and I couldn't buy him learning his lesson after everything he did. There were parts of the film I did enjoy though, like a scene early on where McQueen's agent says he's got tickets for his big race, and when he asks McQueen who he wants to give them to, McQueen draws blank. That's an interesting moment of character! I want to know more about McQueen's backstory! Did he run from home? Is he truly that alone? And you want to know where the film goes with this one great scene! NOWHERE! Absolutely nowhere! It's never mentioned, talked about again, it's just a plot hook that's left hanging. Wouldn't a sequel about McQueen having to come to grips that his family is his friends or some other thing be much more interesting than a movie about the obnoxious side character becoming a spy with Michael Caine car with vehicles with a personality and intellect being brutally murdered and blowing up and drowning?! Cars 2 really, really made me consider burning all my animated movies. I hated it that much.

The Count Von Zarovitch Battle was designed with that in mind. It only lasted six rounds, and I meant it to be tough, but still doable. Enemies with lower health but higher attack power seems to work for me.

The Party Eric (Khorne)30 year old Human Nord Level 23 Raider *Natural Respite* *Immune to Fragile* *Evasion* *Counterstrike* *Encouraged and Hastened!* *Afraid! 1 more rounds!* Power: 45 (22+23) Defense: 5 Health: 21/41 (8+22+7+4) Gold: 94 Equipment: Godricsleif (WP: 22; Ice-, Lightning-, Darkness-elemental), Counterstrike Gloves (after the wearer is struck by a Free Hit, they counter with strength equal to their level), Boots of Evasion (Wearer takes half damage in front row), Heavy Armor (SP:5, protects from fragile-effect) Inventory: Drengazuli Grom'az (WP:6; Twin Axe: Attacks two enemies in one turn); Crocodile Belt (Max. health +2, immunity to water; accessory); 2x Diseased Silverfish Wings (WP:8 + Cursed throwing dagger); 6x Silverfish Wings (WP:8 throwing dagger); Fire bomb; Lightning bomb; Venom; Grand Potion (11x); Remedy (3x); Mead (7x); Smelling Salts (5x); Nostrum (5x); Mulled Wine (3x); Garnet; Scroll of Sleep, Neutralizer, Murky Pearl (Worth 25 gold) Avalanche, the Super Sleuth (Dragonfire) 29 years old male yeti Barbarian *Natural Respite* *Immune to Fragile* *Counterstriking* *Hastened and Encouraged!* Level 13 Power: 20 (13+7) Health: 16/21 (13+7+1*) SP: 5 Gold: 120 Equipment: Trollsbane (club, WP:7, earth-elemental), Heavy Armour (immune to fragile, SP:5), Counterstrike Gloves (after the wearer is struck by a Free Hit, they counter with strength equal to the damage taken) Inventory: 5x Potion, Grand Potion, 1x Smelling Salts, Nostrum, Mulled Wine, Smoke Bomb, 5x Venom, 2x Phoenix Incense, Pumpkin Bomb (causes the stunned-, blinded-, poisoned by 1-, asleep-, sealed- and confused- effects to all opponents), Lightning Bomb, Dirt Bomb, Holy Bomb, 8x Bone, Skeleton Decoy, Bumble Fanshirt (SP:1, vermin with less than half of the wearer's level are scared and won't directly attack the wearer, bodywear), Hint Coin (Gives the user a hint about a puzzle or tricky situation. Usable only once. Has no monetary value.), Murky Pearl (Worth 25 gold) (*One Chicken Drumstick eaten) Althior Emorith (And Finnegan) *Party Leader* Level 38 1/4 Necromancer *Earns triple XP* Power: 50 (56 for spells) Power Bonus: +5 Spells Defense: 6 4+2 Health: 27/48 5+5+Chicken Drumstick (1)+33 Ether: 49/57 5+5+32+4+Ectoplasm (2) Gold: 300 Equipment: Scepter of Divine Affinity (WP:12, Has ⅙ chance to deal Cursed effect on attacks and ⅙ chance to deal Blessed effect on successful healing, Staff), Spellbound Gloves (+5 power when casting Spells, doubled if target is weak to Element, Handwear), Ethereal Cloak (SP:2, Max Ether +4, Backwear), Medal of Glory (Wearer earns triple experience, Accessory), Robe of the Elven Necromancer (SP: 4, Body Wear) Inventory: Consumables: Skeleton Decoy, Potion x5, Tonic x11, Grand Potion, Grand Tonic x4, Ether Core x2, Remedy x9, Mead, Smelling Salts, Elixirs x3, Phoenix Incense x2, Garnet Lamp of Summoning, Emergency Essence, Grating Stone x2, Deadly Poison Weapons: Dragoro (WP:8, Wand), Skull Shield (SP: 6, immune to darkness elemental damage), Oculoid Claw (WP: 13, Club, 1/6 chance of infecting the targeted enemy on successful hits.) Tools: Bedroll, Bone x3, Holy Water (Quest Item) Artifacts: The Rat Queen's Cape (Backwear, all Vermin type are Enamored with the wearer for the first three rounds of combat, Suitable for Alchemists, Beast Warriors, Chi Monks, and Witches), Black Knight's Armour (SP:4, protects from the stunned effect, suitable for black knights), Numbered Tokens (Quest Item) Gemstones: Diamond (Light), Topaz (Lightning), Amethyst (Darkness), Ruby (Fire), Sapphire (Wind), Garnet (Earth), Opal (Ice), Aquamarine (Water), Emerald (Wood) Throlar Wineghilm (Controlled by K-Nut) 134 year old male Dwarven Knight Level: 10.5 Power: 22 Health: 7/19 Gold: 423 Equipped: Mopagsaber (WP 12, ice elemental, longsword), Poncanis Shield (SP 5). Inventory: Remedy, Mace and Chain (Mace, WP 3), Elven Sword (WP 5, longsword) Bedroll, Round Shield (SP 2), Smoke Bomb, Mulled Wine, Phoenix Essence, Potion, Hint Coin (Gives the user a hint about a puzzle or tricky situation. Usable only once. Has no monetary value.) Crow Helmet (SP: 1, flying enemies do not deal free hits to the wearer, suitable for knights and Dragoons), Murky Pearl (Worth 25 gold) "..." Zombie Paladin Axeman A Level 18 Undead ".." Zombie Paladin Skirmisher A Level 18 Undead ".." Zombie Paladin Spearman A Level 18 Undead "..." Zombie Paladin Swordsman A Level 15 Undead "..." Zombie Paladin Swordsman B Level 15 Undead "Neat loot guys! Can I take a look!" Violet Level 16 Gravedigger *Immune to Sudden Death* HP: 26/26 SP: 2 Equipment: Wooden Shovel (WP: 4 damages undead), Torn White Dress (SP: 2, bodywear, suitable for engaged undead females), Rotting Flesh (provides immunity from sudden death) With Althior dispelling the vampire from his sight, he hastily picks himself up, recomposes himself and scoffs, sneering at the direction of the party. "It seems I've been spared by mortals. Oh joy. I have no doubt in my mind I'll cross some of you again, so until that time, do try to keep fresh. For some of you it might be hard, seeing how you're already dead, but it's hard coming across such easily accessible yeti blood, and dwarf always has such a bold flavour to it." He turns to Eric, his gaze turning from vanity to a sly grin. "Next time we meet, you will draw your blade, nord." With that, he departs back to the entrance, his cape billowing behind him, his armour resonating throughout the ancient tomb, until... silence. "Well, he was rude... is there anything left here you guys want to check out? Otherwise, we should head back up and see if we can get into that Inner Sanctum the Count kept going on about."