Karma at Work
As the fight continues, our new ally, the contact for the resistance, starts to cast a spell. No one in our party recognises the spell, perhaps because our fearless gnome illusionist has ducked out of the side door and is pretending to be a barrel for survival purposes. It's working so far, but it means the rest of the party doesn't know what's about to happen.
It is perhaps unfortunate that our ally looks familiar, the miniature plucked from the box being the one used long ago in a different adventure. Our current GM was not present for that adventure, and so doesn't know the history of that miniature, the character it stood in for turning out not to be our friend, as promised, but a glamoured Erinyes devil who inevitably betrayed us.
The familiarity and history of the figure is having an effect, more on the GM of that old adventure than the rest of us, apparently. Now playing Thrak the barbarian, the mistrust that he instilled in us with every NPC betrayal is working at his psyche. Offered a saving thrown against our resistance ally's spell, he accepts, saving against the spell's effects. The spell, as it turns out, is bless.
Both Salvador the duskblade and Aggar the cleric gain a bonus +1 on a few rolls, including attack rocks. Thrak goes without. So it goes that, a couple of rounds later, Thrak attacks a prone opponent. His barbarian class, chosen weapon, and swinging at someone on the floor means that 'as long as I don't get a 3 I'm going to hit.' He rolls a 2.
Oh, if only he didn't seed such paranoia within our little group when GM, he may have taken that bless spell in the spirit with which it was given.