conversations: human
conversations:  The fire burns warmly, but casts little light into Lord Ackramon's study. Truthfully, the study was used as a library for almost all of the students here at the Adventurers’ Academy, of which Lord Ackramon was owner and chief instructor. The flickering shadows only hint at the vast number of books and scrolls that fill the many shelves. Slowly your mentor walks over to the fire.
  
  " My friends, your training is complete. There is not much more that the trainers here can teach you, myself included. But you are not yet true Heroes, for you have yet to prove yourselves in the field. And we will get to that soon enough. But first, by way of warning, let me tell you of Caddlebron... ”
  
  He jostled the burning logs as if lancing a mighty dragon, or perhaps this Caddlebron, who seemed to draw no small amount of ire from the level-headed Lord that you had come to know quite well during your time here.
  
  " Decades ago, Caddlebron was an apprentice here at the Academy, much like yourselves. He worked hard and learned quickly. But impatience devoured him. As a student of the arcane, he wanted to learn more powerful magic. He was warned of the dangers, tempered towards patience; for in time he would become a great Wizard. But Caddlebron could not wait; each night he broke into the Vault Arcana and read the spell books collected there. The secrets that were held within them are great indeed. And once he had learned his fill of these secrets, Caddlebron fled. ”, Lord Ackramon walked among the books here as he mentioned these spell tomes, absentmindedly straightening their arrangements and stroking the spines of particular ones.
  
  He made his way to the window, shuttering it against the encroaching night chill and darkness without. Limping slightly on his bad knee, an old injury that you have been told he acquired while battling a league of undead as they pressed upon the city walls, he returned to his favorite chair near the hearth. Lowering himself into the worn maroon leather cushions, he sighed meaningfully. " Several others and I tracked him for months; chasing rumors and half-truths like ghost through the fog. When we finally caught up with him, we found him greatly changed. He had sworn his fealty to the goddess of Chaos, Jadeera. Damn fool! He saw magic only as a short-cut to power and paid no heed to the terrible price he would have to pay. I tried to reason with him, but to no avail. He laughed in my face and then attacked us. We fought, but he had discovered magic that we were hard-pressed to even defend against. For hours we battled, but Caddlebron had forged allies with his new pact that proved to be stronger than I could have imagined, and I could not defeat him. In the end, several of my compatriots lay dead and those of us that remained were weakened. He fled, seeking refuge beyond the Northern Wastes. ”
  
  Lost in memories for several long moments, it isn’t until one of you stirs that he rouses from his lapse.
  
  " I tell you this now so that you may be made aware of how serious the dangers out there are. There will be times when you judge a situation easy or beneath you entirely; do not be so foolish. Tread carefully with magics that you encounter, for although they can provide you with enormous boon… they too can devour your very soul. Adventure is a young man’s trade, I am afraid. And I am no longer a young man. So it is, I must watch you, and others like you, march away with only the teachings and the meager armaments that we can provide. ”
  
  His gaze shifts from the flickering firelight to each of your faces in turn. " If you stay the course, one day you will earn your place as a Champion of the Realm, as well as a place here among my staff of instructors, should you wish it. Each of you must now be tested as your first trial. In the morning, you are to set out to the catacombs which contain the Tomb of Fellmarg, who was once a great Orcish Priest and a hero of this land. We have reason to believe that a Gargoyle named Verag has taken up residence there. You must seek out and destroy him. This Quest is not easy and you must work together in order to survive. This is your first step on the road to becoming true Heroes. Tread carefully my friends. I shall speak with you again on your return – if you return... "
  
  And with these words, you are dismissed. Sleep is difficult to come by as you lay in bed that night – equal parts excitement and anxiety causing your mind to reel and flit about from thought to thought. Eventually, however, the Dreammaker finds you and the next thing you comprehend is the sound of the roosters of the nearby farmsteads crowing at the sun’s morning rays. You awaken and dress, eager to get on the road. After a hardy breakfast and packing your gear carefully, you meet with the others that would accompany you on this, your first quest. 
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  Leroy is the first up, as almost always, the enthusiastic knight errant wanting to enter the tomb and gain a name as a hero. "COME ON PEOPLE, WAKE UP!" he shouted at the rest of his fellow ex trainees.
conversations: The_Admiral:
conversations: human
conversations:  Adonis awoke to the hurried cries of her future companion Leroy... Jenkins? She couldn't quite remember his last name, but that sounded right for some reason.   He was always in a hurry for some reason.  Always impatient.
  
  And yet even his urging yells didn't sour her mood.  She was excited to begin her new life as what she called 'Being a Hero!'.  Learning the ways of wizarding had taken her years, and she was an orphan with no money.  So those years of training were not something she could easily afford.  Many late nights had been spent at... her part time job.  But she didn't want to think of those nights.  The cheesy music and sleazy comments still rang in her ears, and the smell of smoke still stuck to her nostrils.  It was why she was so happy to be done with it all.
  
  Sitting up, she quickly grabbed her head.  The night had been late with celebration.  Perhaps celebration that was a bit harder than she should have, but it was done.  Slowly she made her way across the small room, hoping to dress without being the last one. Opening her closet, her jaw opened in horror.  It was empty.  Slowly her groggy mind traced the previous days events.  Then she finally recalled.  The academy had taken back all the uniforms she had been renting.   The cost of not having enough money to buy their expensive uniforms... 
  
  Still, she had still had an extra set of clothes.  Where had they gone?  Carefully she concluded the only logical explanation.  The other students had taken them as a prank.  Adonis had passed out as soon as she had hit the bed last night; it would have been all too easy.  All that hung in the closet now was her... old uniform from her former job. She couldn't wear that, could she?  But she didn't have time to hunt down the culprits.  She was already late!  Curses... 
  
  Reluctantly she donned her old uniform, hopefully for the last time.  With luck, she could slip out without being seen.  Most of the students wouldn't be up at this hour.  She wouldn't give them the last laugh they hoped for so desperately.  Hopefully she could find some robes on the way, but for now this would have to do.
  
  Emerging from her room, she quickly made her way to the ever noisy Leroy.  Her cheeks burned red, but she held her head high as if she dressed of her own free choice.  She wore a very short mini skirt, and a matching gray halter top that hugged her curvacious chest tightly.  White stockings climbed her legs, hugging them tight in the black heels that matched her short cape.  She held her bag closely over her shoulder, and looked about nervously.
   "I apologize for my delay.  If the others are still not at hand, I would like to get a head start if you don't mind."  She said, trying to sound intelligent in how she spoke.
conversations: HairyGuy4:
conversations: human
conversations:  The four of you gather your things and meet up near the front gate that belonged to Lord Ackramon's small estate, firmly within the city limits of the town of Hommlenshire. The map that you had been given showed that the Tomb of Fellmarg was a mere two days' hike into the nearby hill country. It was rocky and rolling, with lots of caves and tunnels beneath the ground - some natural and some not. The tomb itself was a cairn-style burial site, where mounds of earth and placed stones formed little hillocks to contain the cherished dead. You traveled on with ease, unmolested in your arrival to the site where you were told that you could find the tomb. And as you broke through a decently-dense copse of trees, there it was... situated in the middle of a large meadow down below the hill you now descended. The entrance, you had been told, would be located on the top of the cairn.
  
  Luckily Vonrok, your dwarven companion who dealt in matters of secrecy and stealth, was able to locate the hidden entrance after a few short minutes of exploration. A piece of the decorative scrollwork upon the stone marker that indicated this as the Tomb of Fellmarg the Overcompensator, when pressed inward, caused a secret door to slide open, revealing a spiraling stone staircase that lead downwards into the dark beneath your feet. The stones steps showed signs of recent passage - indication that you were not alone here. Your party presses on, for this is why you came after all.
  
  You wind your way down the stairs, finding yourselves in a small room with a single iron-bound wooden door, bones and refuse scattered haphazardly about the worked stone floor. Luckily, the torches in the wall sconces were already roaring with wicked abandon as you enter.
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  "It appears we are not alone..."  Adonis says softly.  Taking deep breath, she opened the door and begins walking down the corridor to the left.
conversations: HairyGuy4:
conversations: human
conversations:  Halam moves past Adonis, turning right and peeking down around the corner. "We should decide now which way to go. But I advise above all else that we stick together."
  
  The elf keeps an eye around the corner, looking for any sign of activity.
conversations: Croverus:
conversations: human
conversations:  You both press out into the hallway, finding more torches set alight. You also see one other door to your left and a turn in the hallway at both ends, heading back northward in the direction that you came. The passageway to your left seemed wider than that to your right.
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  Climbing down the stairs, Leroy slips carefully past his new allies as he moves towards the corner.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  
  Leroy moves to A 19, or a close as possible to it.
   
conversations: The_Admiral:
conversations: human
conversations:  Slowly Adonis walks down the hall, the sound of her heels clicking on the stonework floors as she examines for signs of the people who had come before them.  She was unsure whether her certainty that they were not alone was a good thing or a bad thing.
  
   
   Spoiler 
   (2d6)[ 3 ][ 4 ](7)  square, which puts her at L19.  I believe that allows her to look around the corner?
   
conversations: HairyGuy4:
conversations: human
conversations:  Leroy moves to the western corner of the hallway and peers northward, seeing one additional door and one additional hallway, leading back towards the east. More torch sconces line the walls here, but there was still no sign of their quarry.
  
  Adonis slowly makes her way eastward, opposite of Leroy, and nears the wide opening that turned to the left.
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  Leeroy bounds forward down the hall, sword raised ready to engage any opponent.
conversations: The_Admiral:
conversations: human
conversations:  Leroy moves northward, and the dwarf decides to stay with the warrior.
  
  Meanwhile, the elven priest remains with Adonis, cautiously approaching the corner to see what they could see.
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  Adonis steps around the corner before realizing she was leading the front line.  Terror jumps down her spine, and then she realizes that Leroy was no where to be seen.  Immediately she turns back, pushing past the priest and trying to catch up to the other two companions.
   "Fools!  The first rule they taught us was don't split the group..." 
   
   Spoiler 
   (2d6)[ 6 ][ 1 ](7) 
  Moving one square forward and the remainder of my movement moving backwards in the direction of Leroy.
   
conversations: HairyGuy4:
conversations: human
conversations:  Adonis steps around the corner as sees that the hallway ends some short distance up ahead, "T"-ing off both to the east and west. In the eastern wall of the corridor that she was now looking down, there was a lone door.
  
  Realizing that their party had become divided, the wizard and Halam turned back and made to catch up with the others.
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  Leroy moves up to the junction he had spotted and looks down the adjoining hallway. He could see that it too ended in a 'T'-style intersection, but also had two doors in the northern wall.
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  Seeing nothing, he moved down south, kicking in that door.
conversations: The_Admiral:
conversations: human
conversations:  Leroy quickly assesses that there is nothing of immediate threat in the hallways and comes back to the door he had already passed, giving it a hardy kick with his heel. The door splinters open at the latch, revealing a chamber the same size as that in which you entered this foul place. The broken and bloodied remains of something humanoid was splayed out on a torture rack at the back of the room and a goblin and an orc turned about as Leroy entered the space.
  
  The warrior was now face to face with the small goblin, the smell of death and decay strong in his nostrils.
conversations: Erasmas:
conversations: human
conversations:  Charging foward, Leeroy knocks his pommel into the goblin's face, knocking it backwards. He follows up with a step and a ran the goblin through with his sword. as he pulls it out, blood spurts from the relatively large hole he made in the goblin's body.
conversations: The_Admiral:
conversations: human
conversations:  The orc, seemingly unfazed by the felling of his counterpart, sidesteps the bloodied corpse and swings his own broadsword at Leroy! The strike looks as though it might make contact with the warrior, but his defensive training kicks in and he easily parries the blow with his blade.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  
   (3d6)[ 2 ][ 5 ][ 3 ](10) 
   
conversations: Erasmas: